Tironian notes (Roman shorthand)
Notas tironianas (taquigrafía romana)
- Date
- 63 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rome, Lazio, Italy
- Credited to
- Marcus Tullius Tiro, freedman of Cicero
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A system of abbreviations and signs for note-taking at speaking speed, attributed to Cicero's secretary. It was taught for centuries and left the ⁊ (et) sign.
Plutarch mentions stenographers at Cato's speech (63 BC); Tiro's authorship is the tradition, and the system grew over centuries.
What it led to
- Senate records and sermons taken down live
- medieval scribal abbreviations
- modern shorthands
Built on
- Latin alphabet