Paleography

Translations

paleografia | Paléographie | Paläografie

Article

Paleography is the study of diachronic change in the shape of the glyphs of a writing system. As such, it pertains to the evolution of the graphic features of written signs, and not to their function.

In the philological study of ancient texts, paleography is a major criterion for establishing the date of a text, be it a copy or, far more significantly, an original. The date of a text has obvious implications on the date of variety of language and of the lexicon that the text contains, making paleography highly significant for the study of language contact in antiquity.

Furthermore, changes in a writing system that originate locally may occasionally spread to different traditions or areas, which is indicative of contacts between scribal habits and/or of the circulation of written materials.