An Aramaic masculine noun meaning scribe or secretary, appearing exclusively in the book of Ezra. It designates both Persian imperial secretaries -- such as Shimshai the scribe who wrote accusations against the Jews (Ezra 4:8-9,17,23) -- and Ezra himself, described as 'a scribe skilled in the law of Moses' (Ezra 7:12,21). The word is the Aramaic cognate of Hebrew sopher, reflecting the bilingual administrative world of the Persian period. As applied to Ezra, it carries a doubled significance: he is both a government-recognized official and a scholar of Torah. The Spanish 'escriba' and French 'scribe' directly translate the professional title, while German 'Schreiber' (writer) captures the root meaning of one who writes.