'Hieratic' definitions:
Definition of 'hieratic'
(from WordNet)
adjective
Associated with the priesthood or priests; "priestly (or sacerdotal) vestments"; "hieratic gestures" [syn: priestly, hieratic, hieratical, sacerdotal]
adjective
Written or belonging to a cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing; "hieratic Egyptian script"
adjective
Adhering to fixed types or methods; highly restrained and formal; "the more hieratic sculptures leave the viewer curiously unmoved"
noun
A cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphics; used especially by the priests [syn: hieratic, hieratic script]
Definition of 'Hieratic'
From: GCIDE
- Hieratic \Hi`er*at"ic\, a. [L. hieraticus, Gr. "ieratiko`s; akin to "iero`s sacred: cf. F. hi['e]ratique.] Consecrated to sacred uses; sacerdotal; pertaining to priests. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 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.). [1913 Webster]