[skrip-tawr-ee-uh
m, -tohr-] 
[-tawr-ee-uh, -tohr-] . | a room, as in a monastery, library, or other institution, where manuscripts are stored, read, or copied. |
| scrip·to·ri·um (skrĭp-tôr'ē-əm, -tōr'-) n. pl. scrip·to·ri·ums or scrip·to·ri·a (-tôr'ē-ə, -tōr'-) A room in a monastery set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts and records. [Medieval Latin scrīptōrium, from Latin scrīptus, past participle of scrībere, to write; see skrībh- in Indo-European roots.] |
scriptorium
writing room set aside in monastic communities for the use of scribes engaged in copying manuscripts. Scriptoria were an important feature of the Middle Ages, most characteristically of Benedictine establishments because of St. Benedict's support of literary activities. All who worked in scriptoria, however, were not monks; lay scribes and illuminators from outside the monastic foundation reinforced the clerical scribes.
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