Chirography

See also: Penmanship, Calligraphy. Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. ... Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ...

Definition

Chirography(from the Greek derived ('cheir-'/'cheiro-')Latin 'chiro-' (similar to the Hittite word 'kesar') meaning hand (i.e. chiropractic)) is the study of penmanship/handwriting and all of its aspects (script, calligraphy, etc.). Hittite can refer to either: The ancient Anatolian people called the Hittites; or The Hittite language, an ancient Indo-European language they spoke. ... Look up script in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Script may mean: Script (performing arts), the dialog and instructions for a play. ...

Brief History

According to Georges Jean(1992, p. 12), standardised writing 'cannot be said to exist until there is an agreed upon repertoire of formal signs or symbols that can be used to reproduce clearly the thoughts and feelings' those utilising them hope to put forth.

Ancient Printing

Although writing's origins may be traced back to the renowned French cave paintings (said to be about 20,000 years old)in Lascaux, it is, ostensibly, the passing of nearly 17 millennia which would be required for a formal system of writing to be borne. The caves of Lascaux, in France, contain some of the earliest known art, dating back to somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 BC. The Paleolithic cave paintings consist mostly of realistic images of large animals, including aurochs, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in...

The Sumerians are regarded as the first everyday users (in agricultural applications) of pictographs(of which scholars have catalogued some 15,000 individual symbols). Sumer (or Shumer, Sumeria, Shinar, native ki-en-gir) formed the southern part of Mesopotamia from the time of settlement by the Sumerians until the time of Babylonia. ... Pictogram for public toilets A pictogram or pictograph is a symbol which represents an object or a concept by illustration. ...

Contextual Handwriting/Cuneiform

Contextual handwriting is said to have begun with the development of Cuneiform (from the Latin Cuneus and referring to the styluses used in creating the pictographs of the aforesaid). Cuneiform would be applied in the recording of Akkadianand several other languages of Mesopotamia as the usage of Sumerian began to fade as a spoken language. Cuneiform (from the Latin word for wedge-shaped) can refer to: an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC three bones in the human foot a record label, Cuneiform Records. ... Styli used in writing in the Fourteenth Century. ... Akkadian language city of Akkad or Agad Akkadian Empire Sargon of Akkad the Amarna letters and Amarna Letters EA 296(Yahtiru) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Mesopotamia [mesuputāmēu] (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ...

Convergence in Mesopotamia and Egypt

As both Mesopotamians and Egyptians began to regard writing as an indicator of one's privilege/rung in societal hierarchy, instructors of the times were given rein to develop drilling (reading/identification, and so on) and memorisation techniques still in operation in modern language instruction. This may have also been assisted by the eventual availability of papyrus as well as the evolution of the hieroglyphs into the more comprehensible forms of Hieratic(from the Greek 'hieros' meaning 'sacred' and coined by Herodotus(c. 484-424 BCE)) and Demotic. These would diminish one another in their own swiftness and would be key elements in the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion. Blank papyrus. ... A hieroglyph is one part of an ideographic writing system that is often found carved in stone. ... Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Champollion Hieratic is a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs first used during the 1st Dynasty (c. ... Äž Ăǘē ĒØĂŷ ĞŐąËò Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ, Herodotos) was an ancient historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Demotic (disambiguation) The term Demotic can refer to: The Demotic Greek dialect of the Greek language. ... The Rosetta Stone solved a particularly difficult linguistic problem. ... Jean-François Champollion For the Champollion comet rendezvous spacecraft, see Champollion (spacecraft). ...

Initial Alphabets

While it is thought that the Phoenician alphabet is the first veritable form, it contained only consonants. Upon reaching the shores of Greece via sailing merchants, it is proposed that the Greek alphabet was developed by a combination of the Phoenician form and the Egyptian Demotic. Although it would fall out of common usage in or around 1100 BCE (except for, or almost exclusively in the university/scholarly realm, as well as in its mother country), its presence would be felt in more modern languages such as Latin and later English. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters—basic written symbols—each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... Phoenician can mean: The Phoenician ancient civilization The Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician languages This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... (Redirected from 1100 BCE) Centuries: 13th century BC - 12th century BC - 11th century BC Decades: 1150s BC 1140s BC 1130s BC 1120s BC 1110s BC - 1100s BC - 1090s BC 1080s BC 1070s BC 1060s BC 1050s BC Events and Trends 1100 BC - Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites...

Aramaic and the worth of Biblical texts

As a great number of Biblical texts were transcribed in Aramaic (arising in Aram (modern day Syria) in or near 800 BCE), along with the rising popularity of the Gospels, teachings of both the language and theological aspects therein became more prevalent in society. This would be furthered by the eventual translations of the Aramaic into Hebrew and/or Yiddish which began to flourish in the Arabic peninsula and the surrounding areas along with the established language found in Qur'anic texts. And although there are spotty connections with their Phoenician systems, it is clear that the transcription of the 'scriptures' mentioned into dialects still spoken, to some degree, today allowed for written as well as verbal language to reach a larger portion of the masses. Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... The term Aram can refer to: Aram is a popular Aramaic personal name. ... The word Hebrew can variously mean: The Hebrew language or Hebrew languages The ancient Hebrew people, or their descendants the Jews The New Testament book Hebrews The term Hebrew is sometimes used by certain Christian groups to distinguish the Jews in ancient times (before the birth of Jesus) from Jews... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ...

Chinese Language/East-Asian Calligraphy/Handwriting

The intricate system of characters defined by their radicals (214 in the Chinese system, with an alternative 79 radical system in the later developed Japanese interpretation known as Kanji (漢字)) is believed to have come to use around 2000 BCE. It was furthermore codified about 1500 BCE and finally systemised between 200 BCE-400 CE. It is considered one of the most consistently unchanged systems of writing and is held in high regard in its influence of nearby languages. Its forms, when written, may range from bloc (the most visible form generally not using brushes) to semi- and fully cursive styles which require a certain degree of skill and devotion (through constant practice and memorisation) and remain in wide use. Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngw n) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: H nyǔ, Hu yǔ, or Zhōngw n) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ... See radical for other uses of the term In mathematics, the n-th root or radical of the non-negative real number a, written as , is the unique non-negative real number b such that bn=a. ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Romaji ローマ字 Kanji (   漢字?, literally Han characters) are Chinese characters used in Japanese. ... (Redirected from 2000 BCE) (21st century BC - 20th century BC - 19th century BC - other centuries) (3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC) Events 2064 - 1986 BC -- Twin Dynasty wars in Egypt 2000 BC -- Farmers and herders travel south from Ethiopia and settle in Kenya. ... (Redirected from 1500 BCE) Centuries: 17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC Decades: 1550s BC 1540s BC 1530s BC 1520s BC 1510s BC - 1500s BC - 1490s BC 1480s BC 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC Events and Trends Stonehenge built in Wiltshire, England The element Mercury has been...

English/European development of Script

In the words of Philip Hofer (1941, p. 2), in the latter portion of the Seventh century CE 'English calligraphy became important and influential on the course of writing styles for the first time' (often credited in part to Alcuin of York). Eventually a form of English handwriting would form to follow the function of the daily business affairs of merchants, clerks and professional scribes for a more masterful and consistent means of correspondence. English in common usage may refer to: The English language. ... Look up script in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Script may mean: Script (performing arts), the dialog and instructions for a play. ... Flaccus Albinus Alcuin (about 735 - May 19, 804) was a monk from York, England. ... Illustration of a 15th century scribe This is about scribe, the profession. ...

During the same period (around the 17th-18th centuries), as English trade came more to the forefront of mainland Europe and the New World, a significant amount of copy books came about which made use of the finery of English script of the time. In some time a more common system of joined/cursive handwriting would be developed for usage in the same vein along with its promotion in the education system. Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, c. ... Cursive is a style of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single (complicated) stroke. ...

Some Key Figures of Chirography

• Herodotus

• Qin Shi Huang(秦始皇)(260-210BCE)

• Flaccus Albinus Alcuin (735-804 CE)

• Johann Gutenberg (1398-1468 CE)

• Ludovico Arrighi[1] (1475-1527 CE)

• Samuel Pepys (1633-1703 CE)

• Jean-François Champollion (1790-1832 CE)

Ğ Ăǘē ĒØĂŷ ĞŐąËò Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ, Herodotos) was an ancient historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC-ca. ... Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) (November or December 260 BC-September 10, 210 BC), personal name Zheng, was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 247 BC to 221 BC, and then the first emperor of a unified China from 221 BC to 210 BC, ruling under the name First Emperor. ... Events Valerian I captured by the Persian king Shapur I; Gallienus becomes sole Roman emperor. ... Events Abkhazia becomes independent, and will remain such until the 15th century Births Alcuin, missionary and bishop (approximate date) Deaths May 25 - Bede, English Historian and monk Categories: 735 ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Events Glendalough monastery, Wicklow Ireland destroyed. ... Events August 29 - Treaty of Picquigny ends a brief war between France and England. ... Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (23 February 1633 - 26 May 1703) was a leading 17th century English civil servant, latterly famous for his diary. ... Events February 13 - Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition. ... Jean-François Champollion For the Champollion comet rendezvous spacecraft, see Champollion (spacecraft). ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Modern Chirography

Although, to a certain degree, modern widespread and efficient means of printing coupled with computer technology have pushed stylistic and complex handwriting techniques to the backdrop of linguistic aspects, the aforementioned practices remain in use often in the fields of academia for study. Calligraphy remains a commonplace facet of many modern East Asian languages as well as forms of cursive Arabic. However rustic they may seem, they are necessary in order to grasp archaic or other older forms of current languages in the field of linguistics, as there are still mysteries to resolve (such as the near indecipherable Indus Script). Broadly conceived, linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and a linguist is someone who engages in this study. ...

External Links

• University of Oxford- Linguistics, Philology and Phoenetics[2]

• An Examination Of Chirography And Typography On The Consciousness, Human Relations And British Culture By Daniel Blackmore[3]

• Chinese Calligraphy (What is Calligraphy)[http://www.chinavoc.com/arts/calligraphy.htm

Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ...

Sources

• Harries, Rhonda (1981). Elements of Handwriting: A Teacher's Guide. Novato: Academic Therapy Publications.

• Hofer, Philip (1941). The Universal Penman. New York: Dover.

• Jean, Georges (1992). Writing: The Story of Alphabets and Scripts. New York: Harry N. Abrams.