dactylology
(dæktɪˈlɒlədʒɪ)
Also 7 dactylogie.
[f. Gr. δάκτυλος finger + -λογια discourse: see -logy.]
‘Finger-speech’; the art of ‘speaking’ or communicating ideas by signs made with the fingers, as in the deaf-and-dumb alphabet. (Formerly chirology.)
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Dactylogie..finger-talk, speech made with the fingers. 1680 Dalgarno Deaf & Dumb Man's Tutor Introd., Cheirology, or dactylology..is interpretation by the transient motions of the fingers. 1860 Guardian 24 Oct. 927/1 The ceremony was performed in the finger language, or, as it is grandiloquently termed, dactylology. 1885 G. Meredith Diana II. xii. 303 They pressed hands at parting..not for the ordinary dactylology of lovers, but in sign of the treaty of amity. |