prothonotary
- a chief clerk or official in certain courts of law.
- Roman Catholic Church.
- any of the seven members of the college of prothonotaries apostolic, charged chiefly with the registry of pontifical acts and canonizations.
- an honorary title for certain other prelates.
- Greek Orthodox Church. the chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople.
Origin of prothonotary
Examples from the Web for prothonotary
Historical Examples of prothonotary
This bond was to be filed with the prothonotary of Cambria county.
The Johnstown HorrorJames Herbert Walker
That day I found the first nest of the prothonotary warbler.
Everyday AdventuresSamuel Scoville
A son of his was for many years Prothonotary for the District of Montreal.
The Loyalists of MassachusettsJames H. Stark
This was practised to a great extent in the trials of the archbishop of Toledo, of the Prothonotary, and others.
I hoped it was a prothonotary warbler, a bird I had never seen, and about whose notes I knew nothing.
Spring notes from TennesseeBradford Torrey
prothonotary
protonotary
- (formerly) a chief clerk in certain law courts
Word Origin for prothonotary
Word Origin and History for prothonotary
also protonotary, mid-15c., "principal clerk of a court," from Late Latin prothonotarius, from Greek protonotarios "first scribe," originally the recorder of the court of the Byzantine empire, from protos "first" (see proto-) + Latin notarius (see notary). The -h- appeared in Medieval Latin