apocrisiarius means A high diplomatic representative, approximately equivalent to a papal nuncio. Lexicurio rates it Distinctive — a strength score of 67 out of 100.
Why this word is great
APOCRISIARIUS — [Noun] A high-ranking ecclesiastical diplomat or legate, especially one representing a pope or bishop in the early medieval period. From Latin apocrisiarius, from Ancient Greek ἀπόκρισις (apókrisis, "answer, response, embassy"). Unlike a nuncio—a formalized and permanent papal ambassador of later centuries—or a legate—a general plenipotentiary envoy—the apocrisiarius was the quintessential emissary of a fragmenting Christendom, a keeper of fragile threads between Rome and Constantinople. He is the scent of incense clinging to a travel-stained robe in a barbarian king's hall, the precise, low Latin enunciated over a map in a candlelit scriptorium, and the keeper of a coded letter sewn into a wax-sealed sleeve. He moved through the long twilight of antiquity, the human filament through which the light of distant authority flickered, and often guttered, across a darkening world.
noun
- A high diplomatic representative, approximately equivalent to a papal nuncio.