Tiro's 4,000-Symbol Shorthand System: Ancient Roman Legacy in Unicode

Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freedman and secretary to Cicero, created a shorthand system of about 4,000 symbols around 75 BC at Cicero's request, possibly for secure communications in Sicily. The system, known as Tironian notes, was used for rapid transcription of speeches, including Cicero's denunciations of Catiline. Later users like Seneca expanded it to 5,000 symbols. Despite being banned by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century and ordered destroyed by Frederick II (1212–1250), the system survived through medieval manuscript annotations and the Carolingian dynasty, reaching 14,000 signs. The Tironian et symbol ⁊ (U+204A) persists in Unicode, preserved by medieval Irish script and Gaelic type. The article, published on Open Culture, traces this history and notes the revival of shorthand in late sixteenth-century London. The author, Colin Marshall, is based in Seoul and writes on cities, language, and culture.