manuscript
n. countablen. the original version of a book, article, or piece of music before it is printed or published. In the past, this meant a document written by hand, but today it usually means a digital file.
n. the original text of an author's work, whether handwritten or typed, submitted for publication or preserved in an archive. Often used to refer to historical documents written before the invention of printing.
The author sent her final manuscript to the publisher yesterday.
The library houses a rare medieval manuscript that was discovered in a monastery basement last century.
Scholars spent decades comparing the various versions of the manuscript to determine which one most accurately reflected the poet's original intentions before the editor's heavy-handed revisions.
1597, from Medieval Latin manūscrīptus, a calque of Germanic origin, equivalent to Latin manū (ablative of manus (“hand”)) + Latin scrīptus (past participle of scribere (“to write”)). Not found in Classical Latin.
From Medieval Latin manūscrīptum (“writing by hand”), a calque of Germanic origin: compare Middle Low German hantschrift (“manuscript, document”), Middle Dutch hantscrift (“manuscript”) (c. 1451), Old High German hantgiskrīb (“handwriting, document, manuscript”), Middle High German hantschrift, hantgeschrift (“manuscript”) (c. 1450), Old English handġewrit (“what is written by hand, deed, contract, manuscript”) (before 1150), Old Norse handrit (“manuscript”) (before 1300). Not found in Classical Latin.
Commonly used in academic and publishing contexts; often abbreviated as 'MS' or 'MSS' in formal citations.