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hieratic |
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}]
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