manciple
/ˈmansɪp(ə)l
/noun chiefly archaic
A person in charge of buying provisions for a college, an Inn of Court, or a monastery.Actually, university employees, such as manciples, were a more likely source of disorder....
- A manciple was in charge of getting provisions for a college or court.
- The miller's pseudo-aristocratic pride, founded on the worship of the notion of his wife's high status due to her descent from a parish priest, also offends the church, as well as clerks, wives and women in general, and perhaps even manciples.
Origin
Middle English: via Anglo-Norman French and Old French from Latin mancipium 'purchase', from manceps 'buyer', from manus 'hand' + capere 'take'.