hieratic

Noun · Adjective
Synonyms: hieratic scriptpriestlyhieraticalsacerdotal

Open English WordNet

Noun (1)

  1. a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics; used especially by the priestsSynonyms: hieratic scriptType of hieroglyph, hieroglyphicKinds Demotic, Demotic script

Adjective (3)

  1. associated with the priesthood or priests“priestly (or sacerdotal) vestments”“hieratic gestures”Synonyms: priestlyhieraticalsacerdotalRelating to priesthood
  2. written or belonging to a cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing“hieratic Egyptian script”
  3. adhering to fixed types or methods; highly restrained and formal“the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved”Opposite representationalSimilar nonrepresentational
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Hi′er·at′ic adjective

Origin: L. hieraticus, Gr. ἱερατικός; akin to ἱερός sacred: cf. F. hiératique.

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.).

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

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