Palaeography

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The study and interpretation of ancient handwriting styles and scripts used in manuscripts and documents
2. An academic discipline focused on deciphering and analyzing historical writing systems, particularly those from earlier centuries
3. A branch of history concerning the examination of handwritten texts, often to understand their origins and meanings

Etymology: "Palaeography" is built from two Greek elements: "palaios," meaning "old" or "ancient," and "graphia," meaning "writing" or "a writing," which comes from "graphein," "to write." Put together, the name simply means the study of old writing, and that plainness is the whole story. It is a formal coinage rather than a word that grew up naturally in speech. The discipline it names is much older than its label. Scholars were reading and dating ancient manuscripts long before anyone needed a single term for the practice, so the word describes an activity that had already been established for centuries. Its arrival in English reflects the growth of learned study of old documents, when scholars began needing precise vocabulary for judging the age and hands of medieval and classical texts. The spelling with "ae" is the older, British-preferred form, and American usage often drops the "a" to "paleography." Both come from the same Greek root and refer to the same field.

Synonyms: paleography