Demotic script

E102009

Demotic script is an ancient Egyptian cursive writing system used for daily, administrative, and literary purposes during the later periods of Egyptian history, including the Ptolemaic era.

All labels observed (5)

Label Occurrences
Demotic Egyptian 14
Demotic script canonical 11
Demotic 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf ancient Egyptian script
cursive script
writing system
appearsOn Rosetta Stone
coexistedWith Coptic script in late Roman Egypt
Greek alphabet in Ptolemaic Egypt
hieroglyphic script
culturalContext late Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, and Roman Egypt
derivedFrom Late Egyptian hieratic
developedInCentury 7th century BCE
firstAttested circa 650 BCE
helpedDecipher Egyptian hieroglyphs
ISO15924Code Egyd
lastCommonUse circa 5th century CE
laterUsedThroughout Egypt
nameEtymology from Greek 'demotikos' meaning 'popular' or 'of the people'
numberOfSigns several hundred distinct signs
primaryRegion Lower Egypt
region Egypt
replaced hieratic script in many everyday uses
roleInRosettaStone middle text of the Rosetta Stone inscription
scriptComplexity highly ligatured and abbreviated
scriptType cursive
supersededBy Coptic script for Egyptian language
timePeriod Late Period of ancient Egypt
Ptolemaic period
linked to: Ptolemaic Kingdom

Roman period in Egypt
UnicodeBlock Egyptian Hieroglyphs (underlying language, not directly encoded as Demotic)
usedBy scribes in ancient Egypt
usedFor administrative documents
astronomical texts
business records
contracts
daily writing
legal documents
letters
literary texts
medical texts
mythological narratives
religious texts
scientific texts
tax records
temple administration
usedOn ostraca
papyrus
stone inscriptions
wooden tablets
writingDirection right-to-left
writingSystemFamily Egyptian scripts
writingSystemOf Egyptian language

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (29)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ptolemaic Kingdom usedScript Demotic script
Egyptians writingSystemHistorical Demotic
linked to: Demotic script
Late Period of Egypt writingSystem Demotic script
Coptic language usesAdditionalLettersFrom Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Coptic language developedFrom Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Coptic script derivedFrom Demotic Egyptian script
linked to: Demotic script
Coptic script relatedTo Demotic script
Egyptian language family hasPart Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Egyptian language family hasStage Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Ancient Egyptian hasWritingStage Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Rosetta Stone writingSystem Egyptian Demotic
linked to: Demotic script
Rosetta Stone scriptOrderTopToBottom Demotic
linked to: Demotic script
Meroitic script relatedTo Demotic script
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt language Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Zau writingSystem Demotic script
Thirtieth Dynasty of Egypt usedScript Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt usedScript Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Late Egyptian precedes Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Late Egyptian influenced Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Egyptian antiquities writingSystemUsed Demotic script
Bohairic Coptic developedFrom Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Saite Egypt writingSystem Demotic script
Fayyumic Coptic developedFrom Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Hieratic script replacedBy Demotic script
Hieratic script coexistedWith Demotic script
Dimeh al-Siba languageOfInscriptions Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script
Karanis hasLanguageEvidence Demotic Egyptian
linked to: Demotic script