hierography

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “sacred”) + γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).

Noun

hierography (usually uncountable, plural hierographies)

1. Sacred writing.
   • 1877, C.P. Tiele, translated by J. Estlin Carpenter, Outlines of the History of Religion, →OCLC, pages 1-2:

     The history of religion is not content with describing special religions (hierography), or with relating their vicissitudes and metamorphoses (the history of religions); its aim is to show how religion, considered generally as the relation between man and the superhuman powers which he believes, has developed in the course of ages among different nations and races,

   • 1979, Peter Daly, Emblem Theory: Recent German Contributions to the Characterization of the Emblem Genre, →ISBN, page 55:

     “DEUS ipse arcana sua mysterijs involuit: Agnus Christum refert; eumque crucifixum ex aere Anguis,” and according to him, the Hebrews were the first nation to avail themselves of this hierography.

References

• “hierography”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Nathan Bailey (1736) Dictionarium Britanicum: Or a More Compleat Universal Etymological English Dictionary Than Any Extant.