Manuscript
From Modern Publishing 2025
A. An unpublished draft that is intended for later publication.
B. A handwritten document.
Terminology
The word manuscript is derived from the Latin words for hand ("manus") and write ("scribere").
History
The word itself was first recorded at the very end of the sixteetnth century. As soon as printing presses became available, it was used to differentiate handwritten documents from typed ones; this was its sole definition for quite some time. It has more recently taken on a definition as a draft that is primarily intended for submission to publishers. In current times, it is near-exclusively used in reference to the second definition.
