Chronogram

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of inscription or phrase that encodes a specific date or year within its text by highlighting particular letters corresponding to numerals; also refers to the system of using such textual elements to record time
2. A literary or epigraphic device where certain letters in a sentence represent numerals that, when added, reveal a chronological date; it serves as a form of hidden timestamp within written works
3. A textual composition designed so that designated letters symbolize numbers which, collectively, indicate a particular year or date; frequently employed in historical or commemorative contexts to encode temporal information within a phrase or inscription

Etymology: A chronogram is an inscription in which certain letters, usually those that double as Roman numerals, are highlighted or enlarged so that their values add up to a date. The trick works because Latin letters such as M, D, C, L, X, V and I carry numerical values, so a sentence can encode a year while reading as ordinary text. Churches, bells and monuments across Europe carried these hidden dates for centuries, rewarding the reader who noticed which letters were set apart. The word is built from two Ancient Greek elements: "chrono-", from khrónos, meaning "time", and "-gram", from grámma, meaning "writing" or "letter". Put together, the name describes exactly what the device does: it writes time into a text, in a form that only the attentive reader can extract.

Synonyms: date inscription, date cipher