Hieratic character
(gcide) | Hieratic \Hi`er*at"ic\, a. [L. hieraticus, Gr. "ieratiko`s; akin
to "iero`s sacred: cf. F. hi['e]ratique.]
Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to
priests.
[1913 Webster]
Hieratic character, a mode of ancient Egyptian writing; a
modified form of hieroglyphics, tending toward a cursive
hand and formerly supposed to be the sacerdotal character,
as the demotic was supposed to be that of the people.
[1913 Webster]
It was a false notion of the Greeks that of the
three kinds of writing used by the Egyptians, two --
for that reason called hieroglyphic and hieratic --
were employed only for sacred, while the third, the
demotic, was employed for secular, purposes. No such
distinction is discoverable on the more ancient
Egyptian monuments; bur we retain the old names
founded on misapprehension. --W. H. Ward
(Johnson's
Cyc.).
[1913 Webster] |