Titivillus

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A minor demon in medieval folklore believed to collect idle words and small mistakes made by scribes and clerks
2. In medieval legend, a mischievous imp said to gather the careless errors and frivolous talk of copyists
3. The name of a petty demon who was thought to steal scribes' time and record their trivial slips and idle speech

Etymology: Titivillus was a demon in medieval European lore, and his name became tied to the scribes who copied manuscripts. Monks who made errors in copying were said to have them blamed on Titivillus, who was believed to collect the omitted syllables, words, and skipped lines and carry them off to hell in sacks. The tale appears in late medieval sermons and writings, and the figure was known well enough that scribes sometimes wrote a small note asking him to leave them alone. The name itself is of uncertain origin. Some scholars have linked it to Latin "titivillitium," a term that appears in medieval texts for a trifle or a tiny thing, and the demon's role as a collector of small omissions fits that sense. The connection is not certain, and the name may instead be a coinage whose meaning was never fixed. In English, the word has stayed mostly within scholarship on medieval manuscripts, where it names this figure of scribal blame. Its use in English texts is mainly restricted to discussions of the legend and its literary appearances rather than to general vocabulary.