Hist. [ad. med.L. logotheta, ad. Gr. λογοθέτης, primarily ‘one who audits accounts’ (L. & Sc.), f. λόγο-ς account + θε-, stem of τιθέναι to set + agent-suffix -της.] The designation of various functionaries under the Byzantine emperors; applied esp. (also in the Norman kingdom of Sicily) to a high official corresponding to the chancellor of Western kingdoms.
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 164/35. Logotheta, ʓemotman.]
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., liii. (1869), III. 286. Which the great logothete or chancellor of the empire was directed to prepare.
1862. Kington, Fredk. II., II. xviii. 446. Logothete of Sicily, and Protonotary.
1864. Kingsley, Rom. & Teut., viii. 217. He can talk Latin, and perhaps Greek, as well as one of those accursed man-eating Grendels, a Roman lawyer, or a logothete from Ravenna.
