2 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Hieratic \Hi`er*at"ic\, a. [L. hieraticus Gr ?; akin to
"iero`s sacred: cf F. hi['e]ratique.]
Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to
priests.
{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.
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.).
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
hieratic
adj 1: associated with the priesthood or priests; "priestly (or
sacerdotal) vestments"; "hieratic gestures" [syn: {priestly},
{hieratical}, {sacerdotal}]
2: written or belonging to a cursive form of ancient Egyptian
writing; "hieratic Egyptian script"
3: (fine arts) adhering to fixed types or methods; highly
restrained and formal; "the more hieratic sculptures leave
the viewer curiously unmoved"
n : a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics; used especially by
the priests [syn: {hieratic script}]
more about hieratic
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