anagnost · noun — someone who reads aloud, especially who reads lessons, passages etc. during a church service. It carries an Arena rating of 1534, earned across 29 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, anagnost ranks #225 of 17,205 for The Improbable, #631 of 17,195 for Most Exacting Words, #3,819 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #4,295 of 17,177 for Most Whimsical Words.
Why “anagnost” is a great word
ANAGNOST — [Noun] A person, historically often a slave or attendant, trained to read aloud, especially one who reads lessons or scripture during a church service. From Latin anagnōstes ("slave trained to read aloud"), from Koine Greek ἀναγνώστης (anagnṓstēs, "reader, slave trained to read"), from Ancient Greek ἀναγιγνώσκειν (anagignṓskein, "to read, recognize"). First attested in English in 1601. Unlike a lector—a general term for a reader, without the weight of servitude—or a cantor, who leads the sung liturgy, the anagnost was a designated instrument for another's voice. Picture the quiet rustle of papyrus in a lamplit villa, the clear voice cutting through incense-hazed air in a Byzantine chapel, and the tactile click of a scroll's rod turning after each line—a human conduit for words that were not his own, the transmission of light so often the duty of those kept in shadow.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Latin anagnōstes (“slave trained to read aloud”), from Koine Greek ἀναγνώστης (anagnṓstēs, “reader, slave trained to read”), after Ancient Greek ἀναγιγνώσκειν (anagignṓskein, “to read”).
noun
- Someone who reads aloud, especially who reads lessons, passages etc. during a church service.e.g.“Coming to the landing, I saw two cataphracts, an anagnost reading prayers, Master Gurloes, and a young woman.” — 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 111:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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