Intelligent/Spy

[Margaret Note Spelling]

I'm looking for a different word than spy, something a little less general, a little less normal, and I may have found it. I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard the word "intelligent" used as a noun, in the same way as "spy" or "agent." I dug around a little, but I couldn't find any instances of it used that way. For example: "I'm what we call an intelligent. Loosely, a spy--and yes, I've heard all the jokes." Or even as a title before a name, such as "Just turn the map over to Intelligent Robert, there, and he'll make sure...."

I couldn't find "intelligent" used as a noun anywhere I looked, but I suppose it still could be jargon in any number of fields, or even a similarly made-up word in a fiction book I haven't read. I just want to make sure I'm not actually appropriating a word form that already has a known meaning behind it. Does anybody know if that's the case?

 

[The Judge]

The word you're looking for is intelligencer which means informant or spy.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says: intelligencer (n.)1580s, "spy, informant," agent noun from intelligence. Perhaps modeled on French intelligencier or Italian intelligentiere. Meaning "bringer of news, one who conveys intelligence" is from 1630s; as a newspaper name from 1640s.


Otherwise, I've certainly never seen or heard of "intelligent" used as a noun with any kind of meaning.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Are you getting confused with intelligence officer?

Intelligent, the way your using it...I have never seen it. And it doesn't work for me, because it's got a broader meaning that implies other things.

TJ's intelligencer is quite nice.

 

[Star-child]

@Margaret Note Spelling, any possibility you heard "intel agent" rather than 'intelligent"?

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

@Margaret Note Spelling, any possibility you heard "intel agent" rather than 'intelligent"?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I haven't heard either word used anywhere in particular. Specifically, I've been looking for an alternative to "spy", and I remembered a TED talk on scam emails where the example scammer had accidentally styled themselves an "Army Intelligent," amidst other typos. (It was James Veitch doing the talk, if anybody's heard of him. He's done a number of comedy videos on scam emails, and they're all hilarious.) That's the only place I've ever seen the word used. It was a mistaken usage then--but I thought maybe I could nick it and use it for real.

"Intel agent" was a good thought, though. Thanks. And, just to clarify, I'm not looking for a word that actually exists--I've found a word, and I'm wanting to make sure it doesn't exist anywhere else.

Intelligencer is close, too, but it also actually exists and has a specific meaning. I wanted a word I could personally redefine within my story, close enough to other, real words that the meaning would be easy to pick up.

Appreciate the suggestions anyway!

 

[-K2-]

See @Venusian Broon 's post above. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts what you saw was 'Army Intelligence (Officer).' Or you might say, "she's with intelligence" or "in the intelligence community" or "company man" which is a slang term for being with the CIA (and there are other slang terms for various branches from most nations).

P.S.: Also, 'The Clandestine Service.'

K2

 

[tinkerdan]

Thinking OP wants something close that can be made up as in not a word in use for Intel agent, intelligencer, or Intel officer or intelligence officer.
I'd say that you can pick what you want if context makes it clear that it ends up being defined as a spy.

I'm rather partial to skopein...

The result is an adequate term for the procedure of peering into the recesses of the living body. But "skopein" means not merely to look at something, but rather to view with a purpose, to observe with intent and to monitor.

Also it oddly sounds close to scorpion.

In my novels I've use such terms as dipteron(diptera) to refer to spy device(bugs) used in areas they shouldn't be. After having someone think about being a fly on the wall.