Free US Law Dictionary

Prothonotary

The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. prothonotarius (c.400), from Greek protonotarios "first scribe," originally the recorder of the court of the Byzantine empire, from Greek πρῶτος protos "first" + Latin notarius (see notary); the -h- appeared in Medieval Latin.

The title was awarded to certain high-ranking notaries.

A Protonotarios in mid-Byzantine (7th-10th c.) administration was also recorded as a rough equivalent of a commissar for the Emperor in Constantinople in various themata or provinces. A Protonotarios was also responsible for overseeing the gathering of resources -monetary and material- by the Thematarch or province governor in preparation of a military campaign.