Decipherment

"Decipher" redirects here. For other uses, see Decipher (disambiguation).

Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them

It is closely related to cryptanalysis — the difference being that the original document was not deliberately written to be difficult to decipher. Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, "hidden" and analýein, "to loosen" or "to untie" is the study of methods for

The term has also been used to describe the analysis of the genetic code information encoded in DNA - see the Human Genome Project article for more on this. The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences is translated into Proteins Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA

Some people have also used the word metaphorically to mean something like 'understanding'.

Examples of document decipherment:

Famous documents that have been the subject of actual or attempted decipherment:

Famous decipherers:

External links

Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek The Kharoṣṭhī script, also known as the Gāndhārī script, is an ancient Abugida (an alphasyllabary based on consonants with graphical variations to express Linear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of Greek. Maya codices (singular Codex) are folding Books stemming from the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic The Phaistos Disc ( Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired Clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos, possibly dating The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact (حجر رشيد in Arabic which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing The Behistun Inscription (also Bisitun or Bisutun, Modern Persian: بیستون; Old Persian: Bagastana, meaning "the god's The Voynich manuscript is a mysterious illustrated Book written in an indecipherable text The Rohonc Codex (pronounce like 'ro-honts' is a set of writings in an unknown Writing system. Michael George Francis Ventris ( July 12, 1922 &ndash September 6, 1956) was an English architect and classical scholar who along Jean-François Champollion ( 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832) was a French classical scholar, philologist Georg Friedrich Grotefend ( June 9, 1775 - December 15, 1853) German Epigraphist, was born at Hann Yuri Valentinovich Knorozov (alternatively Knorosov; Russian Юрий Валентинович Кнорозов; b The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer Newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader, syndicated in thirty Newspapers

Dictionary

-noun

The analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost.

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