A character is a semiotic sign, symbol, grapheme, or glyph – typically a letter, a numerical digit, an ideogram, a hieroglyph, a punctuation mark or another typographic mark.
History
The Ancient Greek word χαρακτήρ ('charaktēr') is an agent noun of the verb χαράσσω (charassō) with a meaning "to sharpen, to whet", and also "to make cake", from a PIE root *g'ʰer- "cut" also continued in Irish gearr and English gash, which is perhaps an early loan ultimately from the same Greek root.
A χαρακτήρ [characteer] is thus an "engraver", originally in the sense of a craftsman, but then also used for a tool used for engraving, and for a stamp for minting coins. From the stamp, the meaning was extended to the stamp impression, Plato using the noun in the sense of "engraved mark". In Plutarch, the word could refer to a figure or letter. Lucian uses it of hieroglyphs as opposed to Greek grammata.
Metaphorically, it could refer to a distinctive mark, Herodotus used it of a particular dialect, or of a characteristic mark of an individual. The collective noun χαρακτηριστικά "characteristics" appears later, in Dionysius Halicarnassensis.
Via Latin charactēr, Old French caracter, the word passed into Middle English as caracter in the 14th century. Wycliffe (1382) has "To haue a caracter [...] in her forhedis" for the mark of the beast (translating χάραγμα "imprinted or branded mark").
The word "character" was used in the sense of letter or grapheme by William Caxton, referring to the Phoenician alphabet: "The Fenyces were the fyrst inuentours of caracteris dyfferencing that one fro that other, of whiche were fourmed lettres for to write". As in Greek, the word was used especially for foreign or mysterious graphemes (such as Chinese, Syriac, or Runic ones) as opposed to the familiar letters; in particular of shorthand (in David Copperfield (chapter 38) sarcastically of shorthand, "a procession of new horrors, called arbitrary characters; the most despotic characters I have ever known"), and since 1949 in computing (see character (computing)).
As a collective noun, the word can refer to writing or printing in general (Shakespeare's sonnet nr. 59: "Since minde at first in carrecter was done", meaning "since thought was first put into writing").
Graphemes, glyphs and hieroglyphs
A grapheme is a unifying identity for a number of different glyphs, called "allographs", that have the same meaning but have specific stylistic characteristics. For example, the letter "g" can be represented by either the serif glyph g or the sans-serif glyph g.
The word hieroglyph (Greek for sacred writing) dates from an early use in an English to Italian dictionary published by John Florio in 1598, referencing the complex and mysterious characters of the Egyptian alphabet.Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters.
Esotericism and magic
This section does not cite any sources. (February 2023) |
The word in Renaissance magic came to refer to any astrological, kabbalistic or magical sign or symbol. John Dee (1527 – 1608), a mathematician and occultist, designed an esoteric symbol (right), which he described in his 1564 book, Monas Hieroglyphica: the word hieroglyph is a composite of hiero (holy) and glyph (a distinct character).
In the 19th century, this sense of the word appears mainly in Romantic poetry, such as Sir Walter Scott's Lay of the last minstrel (1805), where "A hallow'd taper shed a glimmering light / On mystic implements of magic might; On cross, and character, and talisman," (6.17).
Semiotics and epistemology
This section does not cite any sources. (February 2023) |
From the esoteric or mystical meanings, learned authors of the Early Modern period abstracted a notion of Character as a code or hierarchical system that embodied all knowledge or all of reality, or a written representation of a philosophical language that would recover the "true names" lost in the confusion of tongues.
This idea had currency as a kind of epistemological philosophers' stone for about a century, from the mid 17th century, with Francis Lodwick (1642) and John Wilkins's Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language (1668), to the later 18th century and the Encyclopédie where in a long entry under the heading Charactère, D'Alembert critically reviewed such projects of the past century.
Computing
The same character in the linguistic sense, can be mapped to one or more computer characters depending on the character encoding. For example, the Unicode standard maps the same letters from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets to various duplicate code points in the Letterlike Symbols and other blocks, often meant to represent specific mathematical or scientific uses for that glyph. In some cases, duplicate compatibility characters are provided so that legacy character encodings can be straightforwardly transposed into Unicode, but these duplicate are deprecated.
See also
- Typeface anatomy, the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface
- Chinese characters
References
- χαράσσω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
- gash, on Oxford Dictionaries
- Herm. 44
- 1.57
- 1.116
- Revelation 13:16
- Eneydos 6.25 (roughly, "the Phoenicians were the first inventors of characters differing from one to another, of which were formed letters with which to write".)
- "Home : Oxford English Dictionary". www.oed.com. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
- Loprieno, Antonio (1995). Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 12.
Look up character in Wiktionary the free dictionary A character is a semiotic sign symbol grapheme or glyph typically a letter a numerical digit an ideogram a hieroglyph a punctuation mark or another typographic mark HistoryThe Ancient Greek word xarakthr charakter is an agent noun of the verb xarassw charassō with a meaning to sharpen to whet and also to make cake from a PIE root g ʰer cut also continued in Irish gearr and English gash which is perhaps an early loan ultimately from the same Greek root A xarakthr characteer is thus an engraver originally in the sense of a craftsman but then also used for a tool used for engraving and for a stamp for minting coins From the stamp the meaning was extended to the stamp impression Plato using the noun in the sense of engraved mark In Plutarch the word could refer to a figure or letter Lucian uses it of hieroglyphs as opposed to Greek grammata Metaphorically it could refer to a distinctive mark Herodotus used it of a particular dialect or of a characteristic mark of an individual The collective noun xarakthristika characteristics appears later in Dionysius Halicarnassensis Via Latin character Old French caracter the word passed into Middle English as caracter in the 14th century Wycliffe 1382 has To haue a caracter in her forhedis for the mark of the beast translating xaragma imprinted or branded mark The word character was used in the sense of letter or grapheme by William Caxton referring to the Phoenician alphabet The Fenyces were the fyrst inuentours of caracteris dyfferencing that one fro that other of whiche were fourmed lettres for to write As in Greek the word was used especially for foreign or mysterious graphemes such as Chinese Syriac or Runic ones as opposed to the familiar letters in particular of shorthand in David Copperfield chapter 38 sarcastically of shorthand a procession of new horrors called arbitrary characters the most despotic characters I have ever known and since 1949 in computing see character computing As a collective noun the word can refer to writing or printing in general Shakespeare s sonnet nr 59 Since minde at first in carrecter was done meaning since thought was first put into writing Graphemes glyphs and hieroglyphsA grapheme is a unifying identity for a number of different glyphs called allographs that have the same meaning but have specific stylistic characteristics For example the letter g can be represented by either the serif glyph g or the sans serif glyph g The word hieroglyph Greek for sacred writing dates from an early use in an English to Italian dictionary published by John Florio in 1598 referencing the complex and mysterious characters of the Egyptian alphabet Egyptian hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphs combined logographic syllabic and alphabetic elements with a total of some 1 000 distinct characters Esotericism and magicThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message Dee s hieroglyph whose meaning he explained in Monas Hieroglyphica as representing from top to bottom the moon the sun the elements and fire The word in Renaissance magic came to refer to any astrological kabbalistic or magical sign or symbol John Dee 1527 1608 a mathematician and occultist designed an esoteric symbol right which he described in his 1564 book Monas Hieroglyphica the word hieroglyph is a composite of hiero holy and glyph a distinct character In the 19th century this sense of the word appears mainly in Romantic poetry such as Sir Walter Scott s Lay of the last minstrel 1805 where A hallow d taper shed a glimmering light On mystic implements of magic might On cross and character and talisman 6 17 Semiotics and epistemologyThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed February 2023 Learn how and when to remove this message From the esoteric or mystical meanings learned authors of the Early Modern period abstracted a notion of Character as a code or hierarchical system that embodied all knowledge or all of reality or a written representation of a philosophical language that would recover the true names lost in the confusion of tongues This idea had currency as a kind of epistemological philosophers stone for about a century from the mid 17th century with Francis Lodwick 1642 and John Wilkins s Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language 1668 to the later 18th century and the Encyclopedie where in a long entry under the heading Charactere D Alembert critically reviewed such projects of the past century ComputingThe same character in the linguistic sense can be mapped to one or more computer characters depending on the character encoding For example the Unicode standard maps the same letters from Latin Greek and Hebrew alphabets to various duplicate code points in the Letterlike Symbols and other blocks often meant to represent specific mathematical or scientific uses for that glyph In some cases duplicate compatibility characters are provided so that legacy character encodings can be straightforwardly transposed into Unicode but these duplicate are deprecated See alsoTypeface anatomy the graphic elements that make up letters in a typeface Chinese charactersReferencesxarassw Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus gash on Oxford Dictionaries Herm 44 1 57 1 116 Revelation 13 16 Eneydos 6 25 roughly the Phoenicians were the first inventors of characters differing from one to another of which were formed letters with which to write Home Oxford English Dictionary www oed com Retrieved 2017 02 21 Loprieno Antonio 1995 Ancient Egyptian A Linguistic Introduction Cambridge Cambridge University Press p 12
