Scrinium

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A container used in ancient Rome to store manuscripts, scrolls, or important papers
2. A box or case employed during Roman times for holding written materials and documents
3. An ancient Roman chest designed specifically to keep books, scrolls, or official records safe

Etymology: Romans used "scrinium" for a box, chest or case in which papers, scrolls and documents were kept, and the word has a dedicated place in Roman administration. Under the late Empire, a "scrinium" also came to mean a department of government, a bureau of clerks who handled the official records, so the container gave its name to the people who worked with its contents. Some later Latin texts use it in this institutional sense, which is the one most often met in historical scholarship. The word is related to "scrinia" in Latin, the plural that refers to the cases themselves, and it belongs to a family of Latin terms built on the idea of writing and keeping records. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, though it is often connected to Latin "scribere," meaning "to write," which would make the box a vessel named for what it held.

Synonyms: case, container, receptacle, box, chest