shorthand

Any system of rapid writing, such as the abbreviations practised by the Greeks and Romans. The first perfecter of an entirely phonetic system was Isaac Pitman, by which system speeds of about 300 words a minute are said to be attainable.

The earliest recorded instance of shorthand being used is the system used by the historian Xenophon to write the memoirs of Socrates. The art of shorthand died out in the Middle Ages because of its imagined associations with witchcraft. It was revived in the 16th century when Timothy Bright (1551-1615) published his Characterie: An Arte of Shorte, Swifte, and Secrete Writing by Character 1588. The earliest shorthand system to be based on the alphabet was that of John Willis published 1603. Later alphabetic systems in England were devised by Thomas Shelton (1601-1650) in 1630 (used by the diarist Samuel Pepys) and Thomas Burney 1750, used by novelist Charles Dickens as a reporter. In the USA, the most popular system is that of Irish-born John Robert Gregg (1867-1948) 1888.

Stenotype machines, using selective keyboards enabling several word contractions to be printed at a time, are equally speedy and accurate. Abbreviations used can be transferred by the operator to a television screen, enabling the deaf to follow the spoken word.