copiatrice

Copiatrice is an Italian noun that can refer to two related senses tied to the act of copying. In a human sense, it designates a person, typically a woman, who produces copies of documents or texts, by hand or with tools. In this usage, the more generic term is copista, while copiatrice emphasizes the feminine gender. In historical contexts, a copiatrice might have been one member of a scriptorium or copying workshop responsible for transcribing texts for preservation or distribution.

A second sense concerns a device that creates duplicates. In older or technical usage, copiatrice could refer to a duplicating machine, but in contemporary Italian the standard term for the copying device is fotocopiatrice (photocopy machine), with copiatrice appearing mostly in historical or specialized texts. The copy result is often called a copia or fotocopia.

Etymology and usage notes: copiatrice derives from copiare “to copy” with the agentive suffix -trice, forming a feminine agent noun. The masculine counterpart for a person who copies is copista; for a machine, terms like fotocopiatrice are preferred today. In modern language, the machine sense of copiatrice is rare, and the word is more commonly encountered in older literature or specific historical descriptions of copying workflows.

See also: copista, fotocopiatrice, trascrizione. The term is primarily of historical or specialized relevance; in everyday Italian, riferimento a una copiatrice di documenti would more likely be expressed with copista for the person and fotocopiatrice for the device.