ˌprotonotary, prothonotary
(ˌprəʊtəʊ-, ˌprəʊθəʊˈnəʊtərɪ; prəʊˈtɒn-, prəʊˈθɒnətərɪ)
Forms: α. 5– prothonotary; β. 6– protonotary; also 5 -notur, -nothayr, (6–7 -natory, -natary).
[ad. late L. prōtonotāri-us (c 400 Ammianus in Du Cange), in med.L. also protho- (Hoveden); a. Gr. πρωτονοτάρι-ος (in Sophronius c 634), f. πρωτο- proto- + νοτάριος, ad. L. notārius notary n. In 15th c. also after obs. F. prothonotaire, mod. protonotaire.
The pronunciation proˈtonŏtary is old in Eng., the absence of stress on -notary being shown by the 16th c. spelling -natary, -natory; cf. the corresponding spellings of prenotary. It may have originated in the med.L. proˌtonoˈtārius and F. proˌtonoˈtaire, with the English gradual change of the (accidental) secondary into primary stress. The analytical spelling proto-notary, and pronunciation ˌprōto-ˈnōtary are also evidenced from 16th c. Both pronunciations, with the variants proto- and protho- are now in official use in different quarters.]
1. A principal notary, chief clerk, or recorder of a court: originally, the holder of that office in the Byzantine court; also, applied by early English writers to similar officers in other ancient countries.
(But this latter application may have been suggested by the English use, sense 2.)
| α 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 141 Oon Theophyl..Wych prothonotarye was of þat kyngdam [Cappadocia]. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Prothonotary, Protonotarius, Protonotary,..was anciently the title of the principal notaries of the emperors of Constantinople. |
| β 1600 Holland Livy xliii. xvi. 1166 Shut up and locked all the offices of the Chauncerie, and discharged for the time the publicke clarkes and protonotaries attending upon that court. 1885 Cath. Dict. (ed. 3), Protonotary, in early times this title, which seems to have been first used at Constantinople, meant ‘the chief of the notaries’, and corresponded to primicerius notariorum, the term then in use at Rome. After 800, the title of protonotary was introduced in the West. |
2. In England, formerly, The chief clerk or registrar in the Courts of Chancery, of Common Pleas, and of the King's Bench; also, in other courts of law, in some of which the term is still in use: see
quots.| α c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 1063 A provincialle, a doctoure devine, or boþe lawes, þus yow lere, A prothonotur apertli, or þe popis collectoure, if he be there. 1467–8 Rolls of Parlt. V. 578/1 Oure Prothonotary in oure Chauncery. 1658 Practick Part of Law (ed. 5) 2 The Subordinate Officers [of the Court of Common-Pleas] are..Three Prothonotaries (who by themselves and their Clarks, draw all pleadings and enter them, and exemplifie and record all common Recoveries). 1766 Entick London IV. 385 There are the same judges as in the Marshalsea⁓court, and a prothonotary, a secondary, and deputy prothonotary. 1825 Act 6 Geo. IV, c. 59 §4 The..deposit of the price..in the hands of the prothonotary or clerk of such court. 1854 Act 17 & 18 Vict. c. 125 §101 All the Provisions..applicable to Masters of the said Courts at Westminster shall apply to the respective Prothonotaries of the Court of Common Pleas at Lancaster and Court of Pleas at Durham. 1868 Lond. Gaz. 14 July 3937/2 The Queen has been pleased to appoint Edward Thomas Wylde, Esq., to be Registrar or Prothonotary and Keeper of Records of the Supreme Court of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. |
| β 1599 Life Sir T. More in Wordsw. Eccl. Biog. (1818) II. 147 His Father..had procured for him the Protonotaries office of the King's Bench. 1658 Bramhall Consecr. Bps. iv. 108 Two of them were the Principall Publick Notaries in England, that is, Anthony Huse protonotary of the See of Canterbury, and Thomas Argall Registerer of the Prerogative Court. 1674 G. Huxley (title) A second Book of Judgements..with Addition of some Notes, by George Townesend Esq; Second Prothonotary of the Common Pleas. Very Useful and Necessary for all Prothonotaries, Secondaries, Students [etc.]. 1707 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. ii. xv. (ed. 22) 197 There are three Protonotaries [of the Court of Common Pleas]..; they are chief Clerks of this Court, and by their Office are to enter and enroll all Declarations, Pleadings..Assizes, Judgments and Actions; to make out Judicial Writs, etc. for all English Counties except Monmouth. |
3. a. R.C. Ch. A member of the college of twelve (formerly seven) prelates, called
Protonotaries Apostolic(al, whose function is to register the papal acts, to make and keep records of beatifications, to direct the canonization of saints, etc. Formerly also a title of certain papal envoys.
| α 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 435 Master Godfrey de Plessys, prothonothayr of y⊇ courte of Rome. 1550 Bale Apol. 92 Of lykelyhode ye are some prothonotary of Rome. 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. ii. viii. 73 Anthony Goosode, Doctor in Divinity, and Apostolick Prothonotary. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. ii. iii. I. 477 How proud and elated was Eck on reappearing in Germany with the new title of papal prothonotary and nuncio. |
| β 1555 Eden Decades 1 Counsiler to the kyng of Spayne and Protonotarie Apostolicall. 1682 News fr. France 36 The most renowned John Baptist Lauri, Protonotary Apostolick, and Auditor of the Apostolick Nunciature in France. 1758 Jortin Erasm. I. 11 The Popes Protonotary of Ireland. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 28 Sept. 1/2 Monsignor Weld..was the oldest Protonotary Apostolic attached to the Papal household. |
b. Gr. Ch. The principal secretary of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
| 1835 F. Shoberl tr. Chateaubriand's Trav. Jerus., etc. i. Introd. (ed. 3) 19 The first [letter] is addressed in 1575, by Theodore Zygomalas, who styles himself Prothonotary of the great church of Constantinople, ‘to the learned Martin Crusius [etc.]’. |
4. A chief secretary in some foreign courts; also
transf. and
fig.| α 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 4 A servaunt of the prothonotarye of Spayn. c 1570 Pride & Lowl. (1841) 70, I wrote never day with prothonotory. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour, Germany II. 93 This senate [of Hamburg] consists of four burgomasters,..twenty-four senators,..four syndics,..and four secretaries, the chief of whom is called Prothonotary. |
| β 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter iii. 2 They [i.e. the prophets] were the protonotaries of heaven, the registers of the truth, the secretaries of the Holy Ghost. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) III. xxx. 304 Bayard had come out of his ambush too soon, and only dispersed the suite of secretaries, protonotaries, and all the rest. |
5. Comb. prothonotary warbler, an American warbler,
Protonotarius citrea, of the family Parulidæ, distinguished by a deep yellow head and breast, green back, and blue-grey wings.
| 1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 494 Prothonotary W[arbler]... This inhabits Louisiana, where it has obtained the name of Protonotaire. 1811 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. III. 72 Prothonotary Warbler... They are abundant in the Mississippi and New Orleans territories, near the river. 1874 E. Coues Birds of Northwest 47 Prothonotary Warbler... This species..only reaches the lowermost Missouri. 1977 Daily Tel. 24 Jan. 10/4 Bird-watchers..already know what a prothonotary warbler is. |
Hence
proto-, prothonotarial (
-ˈɛərɪəl)
a., of or pertaining to a protonotary;
proto-, prothonotariat (
-ˈɛərɪæt), the college of protonotaries;
proto-, prothoˈnotaryship, the office of a protonotary.
| 1547 Acts Privy Council (1890) II. 517 Sir John Godsalve..was required to repaire hether to attend his office of the Signete and Protonotorieshipe. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 452/3 Her Majesty who also gave him [George Carew] a Prothonotaryship in the Chancery. 1893 Westm. Gaz. 12 Apr. 2/1 The ancestor..drew a profit from the Prothonotaryship, and shared in the subsequent pension. |