'Hieratic character' definitions:

Definition of 'Hieratic character'

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]