pro|thon|o|tar|y

pro|thon|o|tar|y «proh THON uh _TEHR ee», noun, plural -tar|ies.

1. a chief clerk, secretary, or registrar, especially of a court of law.

2. the Roman Catholic official in charge of the registry of pontifical acts, canonizations, and the like.

3. the chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople in the Greek Church.

4. = prothonotary warbler. (Cf. ↑prothonotary warbler) Also, protonotary.

╂[< Medieval Latin prothonotarius < Medieval Greek prōtonōt < prôtos first + Late Greek nōt clerk, notary]