prothonotary means A chief legal clerk or notary in Roman Byzantium, and (hence) in Rome. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why “prothonotary” is a great word
PROTHONOTARY — [Noun] A chief clerk or notary, originally in Byzantine and later in Roman legal administration, and subsequently a title for high-ranking registrars in ecclesiastical or secular courts. From Middle English prothonotarie, from Medieval Latin protonotarius, from Byzantine Greek πρωτονοτάριος (prōtonotários), from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos, "first") + Byzantine Greek νοτάριος (notários, "notary"), from Latin notārius ("notary"). Unlike a common "notary"—a general authenticator of documents—or a "registrar"—a keeper of administrative records—a prothonotary is the principal scribe, the archivist at the summit of solemn hierarchy. It is the deliberate scratch of a quill in a dim papal chancery, the weight of a leaden seal pressed into warm wax to bind an imperial decree, and the precise, faded copperplate in a ledger of judgments that have long outlived the judged—the quiet, administrative machinery that makes authority official and memory permanent.
Etymology
From Middle English prothonotarie, from Medieval Latin protonotarius, from Byzantine Greek πρωτονοτάριος (prōtonotários), from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos) + Byzantine Greek νοτάριος (notários), from Latin notārius (“notary”).
noun
- A chief legal clerk or notary in Roman Byzantium, and (hence) in Rome.
- One of the seven prelates, constituting a college in the Roman Curia, whose office is to register pontifical acts and to make and preserve the official record of beatifications.
- A registrar or chief clerk in various courts of law, especially (US) in a county court, (Australia) in certain state Supreme Courts, (Canada) in Federal Court.“I accordingly did direct him how to enter an appearance with the prothonotary and to obtain a copy of the plaint or declaration.”
- The chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople.