palaeography

British  

/ ˌpælɪˈɒɡrəfɪ, ˌpælɪəʊˈɡræfɪk /

noun

1. the study of the handwritings of the past, and often the manuscripts as well, so that they may be dated, read, etc, and may serve as historical and literary sources

2. a handwriting of the past

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Other Word Forms

• palaeographer noun
• palaeographic adjective

Example Sentences

A choice of modules includes dragons in western literature and art, the legend of King Arthur, palaeography, Islamic thought, archaeological theory and practice and the depiction of women in the Middle Ages.

From BBC

Therefore, the conjecture that these specific fragments may be forgeries rests alone of the interpretation of palaeography and the texts.”

From The Guardian

In the present state of Hebrew palaeography it is not possible to determine accurately the date of a MS., but it is easy to recognize the country in which it was written.

From Project Gutenberg

The general apparatus criticus has been vastly increased; the field of palaeography has been greatly enlarged through the discoveries in Egypt; and there is a feeling abroad that we are on the brink of an improvement in systems and theories recently in vogue.

From Project Gutenberg

On returning to the work, I found that the key to the removal of the chief difficulty in the way of such improvement lay in an inflow of light upon what may perhaps be termed as to this subject the Pre-manuscriptal Period,—hitherto the dark age of Sacred Textualism, which precedes what was once “the year one” of Palaeography.

From Project Gutenberg