papyrology

Meaning

1. 1noununcountablespecialist

   The scholarly study of ancient texts written on papyrus, especially those found in Egypt, including their reading, dating and meaning.

   Grammar: Not used with an or a plural: she studies papyrology, not a papyrology.

   Patterns

   • a course in papyrology
   • an expert in papyrology

   She chose papyrology because she loved piecing together torn fragments of ancient letters.

   Advances in papyrology have revealed everyday business records from Roman Egypt.

   The university library holds a major collection used by students of papyrology.

Common combinations

study papyrology

He decided to study papyrology after a museum visit.

a papyrology conference

Scholars gathered at a papyrology conference in Oxford.

professor of papyrology

The professor of papyrology showed us a fragment of a tax receipt.

Greek papyrology

Greek papyrology deals with texts from Egypt after Alexander's conquest.

Synonyms and how they differ

epigraphy

Epigraphy studies inscriptions on hard materials like stone, while papyrology deals with writing on papyrus.

paleography

Paleography studies old handwriting in general, whereas papyrology is limited to papyrus texts.

codicology

Codicology studies bound manuscript books as objects, not rolls and sheets of papyrus.

Word family

papyrologist noun

a scholar who studies papyrus texts

papyrological adjective

relating to papyrology

papyrus noun

the ancient writing material made from a reed

papyri noun

plural of papyrus meaning ancient papyrus documents

Commonly confused: papyrology or palynology? papyrology or papyrus?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “papyrology”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words