logogram (2009-09-21)

Part of Speech: noun

Pronunciation: ['la-gê-græm]

Definition: A linguistic symbol representing the meaning of a word rather than its pronunciation, e.g. "5" which represents "five" in English, "cinco" in Spanish, "pyat'" in Russian.

Usage: The ancient Egyptians began using logograms called "glyphs" or "hieroglyphs" (holy glyphs). However, later they used these symbols to represent just the first sound of the word. As the drawings simplified with cursive writing (called "hieratic"), the Arabic and, perhaps, Greek alphabets slowly emerged. The Chinese logograms did not develop into an alphabet because of one advantage: Chinese is actually several different languages but all can use the same writing system since the symbols represent the meanings of words (see "5" above).

Suggested Usage: "Logograph" and "ideograph" are synonyms of "logogram." The adjective for today's word is "logogrammatic," with the –at extension added to most nouns borrowed from Greek ending on [m] (see also "dramatic," "enigmatic," "programmatic"). The adverb is "logogrammatically." Chinese uses a logogrammatic writing system. For more about logograms and writing systems, see "Ancient Scripts" at http://www.ancientscripts.com.

Etymology: "Logogram" is based on Greek logos "word, idea," which comes from the same root as Latin lex, legis "law," very special words in Roman culture. In Old English the same root became læce "physician," originally a sorcerer who spoke magic words. Today it is "leech," something doctors later relied on to cure (too) many ills. The second half of today's word comes from Greek gramma, grammat- "letter." Its Proto-Indo-European origin, *gerbh- "scratch," turned out to be "carve" and "crab" in English. In Greek it went on to become "gram" and the "graph" of "logograph" (and many others) from graphein "to scratch, draw, write."