Latin Love: Scribere: To write (scrib, scrip)

To avoid writing notes during an interview, many writers will tape the interview, and then transcribe the tape into written form. Literally, the word means "to write across," with the prefix "trans-" meaning "across" and "scribe-" meaning "to write. We may scribble notes in class and then transcribe them into a neater, fuller form later on, when we have time.

The word "transcript" often refers to the written record of a student's grades, but it is also commonly used in a legal context, as when a transcript of court proceedings are given to an officer of the court.

To "inscribe" means, literally, to "write in," not as in "to write in a notebook," but to actually etch in lettering, usually on a headstone or a piece of jewelry, so that the words will last forever.

The word "manuscript" is a marriage of two roots: "manu-" meaning "hand" ("manual labor," a "manual," meaning a "handbook"), and "script," meaning "to write." A manuscript is a handwritten document, and we use the word manuscript for the handwritten version of documents that are later published.

In the Middle Ages, when the written word was valued but few people were educated enough to write, scribes were employed to write the words of others and to painstakingly write the words of Scripture.

The relationship between the word "ascribe" and its root, "to write," is a little indirect, but it means, literally "to write toward." Think of it this way: To ascribe something to someone is to give them credit or blame in writing, although, the way the word "ascribe" is used, it doesn't actually have to be in writing.

The prefix "pre-" means "before," and "scribe-" means write, which explains why your doctor has a prescription pad on which to write prescriptions. You cannot receive prescribed medication unless you have already seen your doctor and she has already approved your course of treatment.