Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Inscriptions considered as a group.
- n. The study of inscriptions.
- n. Decipherment, especially of ancient inscriptions.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The study or knowledge of epigraphs; that branch of knowledge which deals with the deciphering and explanation of inscriptions; epigraphics. Epigraphy is a science ancillary to philology, archæology, and history. It is principally and properly devoted to the consideration of inscriptions in the strict sense—that is, texts cut, engraved, or impressed upon stone, bronze, or other material more or less rigid and durable, or one capable of becoming so, such as clay. Graffiti, or texts consisting of characters incidentally scratched on a wall, etc., and dipinti, in which the characters are painted, not carved, are for convenience' sake also classed as inscriptions. On the other hand, the study of the lettering (legends, etc.) on coins belongs to numismatics.
Wiktionary
- n. inscriptions collectively
- n. the study or decipherment of inscriptions, especially of ancient ones
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The science of inscriptions; the art of engraving inscriptions or of deciphering them.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the study of ancient inscriptions
Etymologies
- epi- + -graphy (Wiktionary)
Examples
“His fourth expedition took place in 1892-94, and was fruitful and rich in Arabic epigraphy.”
“Some have proposed it as another reference to 2012, but I remain rather unconvinced," David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a message to The Associated Press.”
The Huffington Post: Mayan 2012 Prophesy: Mexico Finds Second Reference Among Ruins
“OK, sometimes it's epigraphy, but hey, first they came for the palæographers, then the epigraphers ALL the TIME.”
“According to our epigraphy expert, Prof.Dr. Werner Eck from the University of Köln in Germany, the small, regular letters hint at a date in the 2nd century AD.”
Stone Studies « Interactive Dig Sagalassos – City in the Clouds
“His research interests are mainly focused on Greek epigraphy, the archaeology of the landscape, and Early Iron Age Crete.”
“Mukunda Madhava Sharma made wide-ranging contributions to Sanskrit literature, especially in the realms of poetry and poetics, history and epigraphy.”
“To date, witnesses have included antiquities dealers, museum curators, experts and professors of archaeology, history, epigraphy and chemical isotopes from leading universities and museums in Israel and around the world.”
“So you take the archaeology, then you take the epigraphy, you take the texts, you take the statistics -- I've heard all kinds of people, like Professor Dever, giving opinions.”
“Two revolutions have shaped the study of the Trojan War in the last two decades, one in archaeology and the other in epigraphy the study of inscriptions.”
“Descriptions of them are based on Homer and, whenever possible, on details drawn from archaeology, epigraphy, art, etc.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘epigraphy’.
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