Power to the People

This week we look at three words (actually four, because the second “look” is at a two-word phrase) that refer to “the common people.”


The first is the word demotic, which refers to the common usage of words, or vernacular. But it has a second definition that gives us a clue to its etymology: “designation or of a simplified system of ancient Egyptian writing; distinguished from hieratic.” So let’s go to Egypt and find out more about hieratic, demotic, and hieroglyphic.
Hieroglyphics vie with cuneiform writing for the oldest form of writing of which we are aware. According to omniglot.com, a web site about writing systems and languages, hieroglyphics were “used for formal inscriptions on the walls of temples and tombs”, hieratic script was used for everyday writing, and demotic “was used for most other purposes”. Hieroglyphic and hieratic writing was developed at about the same time, and hieratic writing was used until the 26th Dynasty of Egypt, which occurred between 664 and 525 B.C. By the end of its existence it was primarily used for religious purposes, while demotic writing was used for common purposes.

The word demotic was given to the script by Greek historian Herodotus, a man born in Turkey in about 425 B.C. (he is credited with being the world’s first historian). Demotic writing was developed from a northern variant of the Hieratic script in around 660 BC. During the 26th Dynasty it became the preferred script at court, however during the 4th century B.C. it was gradually replaced by the Greek-derived Coptic alphabet. The most recent example of writing in the Demotic script dates from 425 AD, so it lasted over a millennium.

Since we know that the words hieratic and demotic come from a Greek historian, what are the meanings of the Greek words? The Greek word hieratikos comes from the word for priesthood, hierateia. Hieros is the root word and means sacred. The first use of hieratic in English is in the 1650s.

Demotic, on the other hand, comes from the Greek word demotikos, which means “of or for the common people.” The word demos means common people, and is the word from which we get democracy – rule by the common people. Yet the word demotic was confined to Greek and Egyptian writing until 1822, when it was accepted as an English word. It remained the differentiating word from hieratic for less than a decade, coming to mean “of the common people” by 1831. Interestingly, it eventually was used of Greek, beginning in 1927.
Our second (or second and third) word is hoi polloi. It is never used as hoi or polloi, and unfortunately is seldom used without the redundant word “the”; it means “the common people”.
 
 
For more on hoi polloi and why saying "the hoi polloi" is redundant, and the rest of this blog, you'll have to wait until Wednesday. See you then!