Politics & SocietyGreek → English
Chirograph
/ˈkaɪrəɡrɑːf/noun
A handwritten legal deed, in medieval practice written twice on one sheet and cut apart so the halves could be matched.
The Greek roots
χείρ
cheír
hand
γράφειν
gráphein
to write
Literally: “hand-writing”
The story of the word
In Greek papyri a χειρόγραφον was a debt note written and signed by the debtor's own hand, and Paul uses the word in Colossians for the record of debt cancelled at the cross. Medieval English clerks made it a technique: write the agreement twice on a single parchment, letter the word CHIROGRAPHUM across the middle, then cut through the letters in a wavy line so each party's copy proves the other genuine. That cut is why an indenture is indented.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
Same family
chiropractorsurgerychiromancyautograph
In a sentence
The abbey archive still holds one half of the chirograph, its wavy edge intact.