punctator

Noun

punctator (plural punctators)

1. One who marks with points, especially in writing Hebrew.
   • In the Hebrew notation the one dot for [i] and the two dots for [e] go back to the Nestorian punctators; but in Hebrew they are used exclusively to stand for these vowel2000, David G. Lockwood, Peter H. Fries, James E. Copeland, Functional Approaches to Language, Culture and Cognition
2. An official charged with keeping track of attendance at religious services.
   • The punctator calls their names and keeps an account of the absent.1892, James Luke Meagher, Christ's Kingdom on Earth, page 491
   • The punctator must note as absent those who come to mass after the last Kyrie, those who do not chant, those who talk or who wander about in the choir, who leave beforre the end of mass, and those who do not wear the choral dress.1906, Ethelred Luke Taunton, The Law of the Church, page 536
3. A secretary for a choir who copied music and often pointed to the correct note during practice.
   • Their "punctator," or secretary, was a Spaniard, Cristofano de Hoyeda, whose recording of a protest against Palestrina's admission to the choir has already been mentioned.1908, Ernest Oldmeadow, Great Musicians, page 103
   • Choirbooks were placed around the facistol or big podium, allowing the singers to be grouped around them. A punctator – who also doubled as music copyist and choirbook archivist – would point to the notes to be sung with a long stick.2001, Daniel Mendoza de Arce, Music in Ibero-America to 1850: A Historical Survey, page 102
4. One who punctuates.
   • But the statement of another inquirer, equally learned, "that the punctators borrowed their punctuation from the Arabic," shows how little force this proposition has.1867, Wilhelm Martin Leberecht De Wette, A Critical and Historical Introduction to the Canonical Scriptures of the Old Testament, page 500
   • For what does a punctator do, if not carve up the written line for intellectual consumption?1989, Syracuse University Library Associates Courier, page 72