- Chronogram is also a magazine published in the Hudson Valley of New York, featuring politics and art. [1]
A chronogram is a sentence or inscription in which specific letters, interpreted as numerals, stand for a particular date when rearranged. A numeral system (or system of numeration) is a Mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set by symbols in a consistent manner The word, meaning "time writing", derives from the Greek words chronos ("time") and gramma ("letter"). Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In the pure chronogram each word contains a numeral, the natural chronogram shows all numerals in the correct numerical order, e. g. AMORE MATVRITAS = MMVI = 2006. Chronograms in versification are referred to as chronosticha, if they are a hexameter, and chronodisticha if they are a distich. In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. Hexameter is a literary and poetic form consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter
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Roman numerals
- Further reading: Numerical anagrams. Roman numerals are a Numeral system originating in ancient Rome, adapted from Etruscan numerals. An anagram ( Greek anagramma 'letters written anew' passive participle of ana- 'again' + gramma 'letter' is a type of Word play
The practice originated in the late Roman Empire and was particularly popular during the Renaissance, when chronograms were often used on tombstones and foundation stones to mark the date of the event being commemorated. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere A headstone, tombstone or gravestone is a marker normally carved from stone, placed over or next to the site of a Burial For instance:
In honoreM
InsIgnIsatheLea
DIVI fLorIanI
IneXstrVg
1629
TVrpIsaMorVeHct
ChrIstIDILeCtIo
1765 - "H" in the first row do not count or count as X?
sanat
aDCrVCeMpLan
genseXVo Vrpe
nefas
1775
- My Day Is Closed In Immortality is a chronogram commemorating the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England. The capitals read MDCIII when added together, which corresponds to 1603, the year of Elizabeth's death.
- ChrIstVs DuX ergo trIVMphVs ("Christ the Leader, therefore triumphant"), on a coin struck by Gustavus Adolphus in 1627, gives MDCXVVVII or 1627.
- In a work entitled Hugo Grotius his Sophompaneas, published in 1652, the date is indicated by the author's name: FranCIs GoLDsMIth. This gives MDCLII or 1652.
Many lengthy examples of chronograms can be found in Germany, notably in and around the town of Bad Salzuflen. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Bad Salzuflen is a town in the Lippe district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. These commemorate the building of houses in the form of prayers or quotations from the Bible. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin For instance, SVRGE O IEHOVA ATQVE DISPERGE INIMICOS TVOS ("Rise, oh Jehovah, and destroy your enemies", a slightly altered version of Psalm 68:2) gives 1625 as the year of building. Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included
One double chronogram, in Latin and English, on the year 1642, reads, "'TV DeVs IaM propItIVs sIs regI regnoqVe hVIC VnIVerso. " — "O goD noVV sheVV faVoVr to the kIng anD thIs VVhoLe LanD. " The English sentence demonstrates that the origin of the letter w as a double v or u was recognised historically.
Hebrew numerals
The great popularity of chronograms among the Jews, and the extent to which they have been cultivated, may be explained by the fact that they are a variety of Gematria, which latter was highly regarded by the Jews and much practised by them. The system of Hebrew numerals is a quasi-decimal alphabetic Numeral system using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Gematria or gimatria ( Rabbinic Hebrew he גימטריה) is a system of assigning numerical value to an Alphabet.
The earliest chronogram in Jewish literature is one found in a Hebrew poem of the year 1205 by Al-Harizi (ed. Secular Jewish culture embraces several related phenomena above all it is the Culture of secular communities of Jewish people but it can also include Yehuda Alharizi, also Judah ben Solomon Harizi or al-Harizi ( יהודה בן שלמה אלחריזי, Yehudah ben Shelomo al-Harizi, يحيا Kaminka, p. 412; compare Rapoport, in "Kerem Hemed", vii. 252), while the earliest Latin chronogram is dated five years later (compare Hilton, "Chronograms", iii. 4). According to Abraham Firkovich, Hebrew chronograms date back to 582 (compare the epitaphs in his work "Abne Zikkaron", p. Abraham (Avraham ben Samuel Firkovich ( Hebrew אברהם בן שמואל - Avraham ben Shmuel; Crimean Karaim: Аврагъам Фиркович Events By Place Byzantine Empire Maurice succeeds Tiberius II Constantine as Emperor 10); but the inscriptions cited by him are probably forgeries. In the thirteenth century chronograms are found in the epitaphs of German Jews (Lewysohn, "Nafshot Zaddikim", No. 14, of the year 1261; No. 16, of the year 1275).
In Epitaphs
It is evident, therefore, that for a period of five hundred years chronograms occurred in the epitaphs of European Jews. Thus the dates of the epitaphs of the family of Asher ben Jehiel in the first half of the fourteenth century are indicated by chronograms (Almanzi, "Abne Zikkaron", pp. Asher ben Jehiel ( Hebrew, אשר בן יחיאל, or Asher ben Yechiel sometimes Asheri) (1250 or 1259 &ndash 1328 was an eminent Rabbi and 4, 6, 9); and among sixty-eight Frankfort epitaphs of that century four chronograms have been preserved (Horowitz, "Inschriften . . . zu Frankfurt-am-Main", Nos. 8, 29, 36, 68). The German Jews seem to have possessed little skill in the composition of chronograms, there being only about twenty-five (and these very simple) in a total of some 6,000 inscriptions. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. In Bohemia and Poland, chronograms in epitaphs occur more frequently, and are often very clever; for example, the epitaph of the physician Menahem b. Bohemia (Čechy; Bohemia Czechy is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Asher Mazzerato, who died at Prague in 1680, reads as follows: איש צדיק ישר חכם וענו האלוף מהר״ר מנחם רופא מומחה (Lieben, "Gal 'Ed," p. Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. 36); and the numerical value of the marked initial letters therein amounts to 440; i. e. , 5440, the Jewish year in which Menahem died. The year of death of the associate rabbi of Prague, Zalman, who perished in the great fire of 1689 (=5449 Jewish era), is indicated by the words 'באש יצא מאת ד (ib. No. 59).
In Books
While the epitaphs, in addition to the chronograms, in many cases directly mention the dates, many manuscripts, and an even greater number of printed books, are dated simply by means of chronograms; authors, copyists, and typographers rivaling one another in hiding the dates in intricate chronograms, most difficult to decipher. Hence, many data of Jewish bibliography still remain to be determined, or at least rectified. Bibliography (from Greek grc βιβλιογραφία bibliographia, literally "book writing" as a practice is the academic study of Books Down to recent times the custom of indicating dates by means of chronograms was so prevalent in Jewish literature that but few books are dated by numerals only. In the earliest printed books the chronograms consist of one or two words only: the Soncino edition of the Talmud, for instance, has for its date the earliest printed chronogram, גמרא ("Gemara") = 244 (1484 C. The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history E. ). Words like רננו ("rejoice ye!"), שמחה ("joy"), ברנה ("with rejoicing") were especially used for this purpose, as they express happiness. Later on, entire verses of the Bible, or sentences from other books, having some reference to the contents or title of the book, or to the name of the author, publisher, printer, etc. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin , were used. In longer sentences, in which some of the letters were not utilized in the chronogram, those that counted were marked by dots, lines, or different type, or were distinguished in other ways. Innumerable errors have been made by bibliographers because the distinguishing marks were missing or blotted, or had been omitted. To this source of confusion must be added the varying methods of indicating the "thousand" of the Jewish era. A calendar era is the year numbering system used by a Calendar. The Italian, Oriental, and earlier Amsterdam editions frequently designate the thousand as לפ״ג (= לפרט גדול, "the major era"). Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Orient is a term which simply means the " East " It originated in Western Asia to describe that part of the world Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west The German and Polish editions omit the thousand, considering only לפ״ק (= לפרט קטן, "the minor era"); but as neither the former nor the latter is employed throughout the respective editions, many errors arise. The following chronogram, which Rabbi Samuel Schotten adds to his work "Kos ha-Yeshu'ot" (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1711), shows how artificial and verbose chronograms may be: "Let him who wishes to know the year of the Creation pour the contents out of the cup [i. Rabbi Shmuel Schotten HaCohen ( 1644 - 5 July 1719) known as the Mharsheishoch, became Rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt Year 1711 ( MDCCXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a e. , count the word "kos," כוס with defective spelling = 80] and seek aid [ישועה = 391; together 471] in the sixth millennium. " The days of the month and week are indicated in the same way.
Many important years in Jewish history are indicated by their respective chronograms; e. Jewish history is the History of the Jewish people, faith, and culture. g. , the year 1492 by מזרה ("scatterer" = 252, after Jer. xxi. 10, which says that God scattered Israel). God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. This was the year when the Jews were expelled from Spain (Abravanel's Introduction to his Commentary on Kings). Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Abravanel family (also spelled as Abarbanel or Abrabanel) is one of the oldest and most distinguished Jewish families of the Iberian peninsula The Books of Kings ( Sefer Melachim, ספר מלכים are a part of Judaism 's Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.
In Poetry
Neo-Hebraic poetry, which laid especial stress on the formal side of verse, also cultivated chronograms. A number of Hebrew poems were produced in the first half of the nineteenth century, in which the letters of each verse have the same numerical value, being generally the year in which it was written. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar A New-year's poem in this style, written in the year 579 (=1819), is found in Shalom Cohen's "Ketab Yosher" (ed. Year 1819 ( MDCCCXIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar in the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Warsaw, p. Warsaw (Warszawa; also known by other names) is the Capital and Largest city of Poland. 146). Two years later Jacob Eichenbaum wrote a poem in honor of a friend, each line of which had the numerical value of 581 ("Kol Zimrah", ed. Leipsic, pp. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong 50–53). While this poem is really a work of art, in spite of the artifice employed, Eichenbaum's imitators have in their translations merely produced rimes with certain numerical values. Gottlober (in "Ha-Kokabim", i. Avrom Ber Gotlober (January 14 1811 Starokonstantinov, Volhynia - April 12 1899 Białystok) was a Jewish writer poet playwright historian 31) wrote an excellent satire on these rimesters, each line of his poem having the numerical value of 618 (=1858). Year 1858 ( MDCCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common The first two verses of the poem are as follows:
ולאלה כגמול ידם להם אשיבה
But even poets like I. L. Gordon and A. B. Lewensohn have a great weakness for the לפקים ("minor eras"), though employing them only in the super-scriptions to their poems. The modern school of Hebrew poets has given up these artifices, the "minor eras" being now chiefly employed for New-Year congratulations, especially by the poor of Palestine, who frequently distribute printed New-Year cards, the wish consisting of a verse whose numerical value is equal to the year. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics.
See also
- Memento mori
- Epitaph
- Abjad numerals (Arabic chronograms)
External links
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. Memento mori is a Latin phrase that may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal" "Remember you will die" "Remember that you must An epitaph (in Greek, &mdash literally " on the gravestone " is a short text honoring a deceased person strictly speaking that inscribed on The Abjad numerals are a decimal Numeral system in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
- The double chronogram on 1642 is cited in The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Wordsworth, 1994
Dictionary
chronogram
-noun
- A sentence or inscription in which the capital letters, interpreted in Roman numerals, stand for a particular date if rearranged.
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