amanuensis

Etymology

From Latin āmanuēnsis (“secretary”), from ab- (“from, off (of)”) + manus (“hand”) + -ensis (“of or from (a place)”), early 17th c.

noun

1. One employed to take dictation, or copy manuscripts.
2. A clerk, secretary or stenographer, or scribe.
   In consequence of this fashion of authors dictating their works, expedition came to be considered of the utmost importance; it was regarded as the chief accomplishment of an amanuensis; and he alone was considered as perfect in his art, whose pen could equal the rapidity of utterance: […] 1827, John Colin Dunlop, History of Roman Literature from its Earliest Period to the Augustan Age, volume II
   I, his mere amanuensis, am left to do what little I can to keep the institution functioning. 1974, John Gardner, “The Warden”, in The King's Indian