[mod. f. Gr. χρόν-ος time + γράμμα a writing, f. γράφειν to write. Cf. F. chronogramme.] A phrase, sentence, or inscription, in which certain letters (usually distinguished by size or otherwise from the rest) express by their numerical values a date or epoch.
‘Thus in 1666, when a day of national humiliation was appointed in the expectation of an engagement between the English and Dutch navies, a pamphlet issued in reference to the fast-day, instead of bearing the imprint of the year after the usual fashion, had this seasonable sentence at the bottom of the title-page: “LORD HAVE MERCIE VPON VS.” It will be seen that the total sum of the figures represented by the numeral letters (printed in capitals) gives the requisite date 1666’ (Athenæum, No. 2868, 493/1.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. iv. (1676), 179/2. He may … make … Anagrams, Chronograms, Acrosticks upon his friends names.
1623. R. Tisdale (title), Pax vobis…. With a Congratulatorie Poem … and some other Chronograms.
1640. Shirley, Humorous Court., II. ii. Now you can make chronograms.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 60, ¶ 6. There is another near Relation of the Anagrams and Acrosticks, which is commonly called a Chronogram.
1781. Harris, Philol. Enquiries (1841), 520. Chronograms … were not confined to initial letters … the numeral letters, in whatever part of the word they stood, were distinguished from other letters by being written in capitals.
1882. J. Hilton, Chronograms, I. Pref. p. v. The word Chronogram is said to have been first used in some verses addressed to the King of Poland in 1575. Ibid., Pref. p. viii. It is essential to a good chronogram that every numerical letter in the sentence must be counted.
