A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

14. MANGANES or MANCANES (Μαγγάνης or Μαγκάνης), was one of the secretaries of Alexis I. [ALEXISH or ALEXIUS I. COMNENUS], when he besieged Constantinople (A. D. 1081), in his struggle to wrest the crown from his predecessor, the emperor Nicephorus III. Botaniates. He was a crafty far-seeing man, apt at finding excuses for the delay of anything which the interest of his master required to be deferred. Anna Comnena forced from his name a verb (μαγγανεύεσθαι or μαγκανεύεσθαι) denoting " to find excuses ;" and a noun (μαγγάνενμα) denoting " a pretext." (Anna Comn. Alex. 2.8, 10. pp. 116-122, ed. Bonn.)