The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 29, July 14, 2002, Article 11

COINING "SYNGRAPHICS"

  Web site visitor Marina Andreeva writes: "I was wondering
  is there a term for paper money collecting like numismatics
  for coin collecting?"

  My response was "syngraphics", although I didn't have time
  to elaborate.  Her reply:

  "I need to know if this term "syngraphics" a widely used and
  well-known term.   Would it be easily recognized among
  collectors in the English-speaking world?  I'm editing a  book
  translated from Belarusian into English and it's important for
  me to pick the right term for paper money collecting.  Or
  should I stick with simply "paper money collecting"?  I've found
  the word syngraphics only in two other places on the Internet
  but nowhere in dictionaries or encyclopedias and the word
  doesn't seem to be familiar to most people.  Thank you.  I
  really appreciate your assistance in this matter."

  Gene Hessler had a hand in coining the term.  In response
  to my query he writes: "In 1974 I went to Reverend Richard
  Doyle, Chairman of the Department of Classical Languages
  at  Fordham University in New York and made the request
  for a word. His creation was syngraphics.

  The Greek syn, means with or together (as in synagogue --
  a place where people come together), and graphikos, which
  means to write. In Latin, syngrapha means a written agreement
  to pay, a promissory note, a bond.  The Oxford Dictionary
  defines paper money as "a written promise to pay." In the
  same source syngraph is defined "as a written contract or
  bond signed by both or all parties, an obligation or bond
  between two or more."

  The first paper money in the western world was a handwritten
  goldsmith receipt.  The art of engraving, etching and other
  methods by which copies of an original design are printed
  from a plate, block or the like is referred to as graphic art.
  Modern bank notes are no longer handwritten but are made
  from engraved plates. Therefore, syngraphics is interpreted
  as the collecting of paper money, and since a serious collector
  studies what is collected, he or she is a syngraphist.

  Syngraphics is a legitimate word with Latin and Greek roots.
  Since our community is small, the term is seldom used outside
  journals including Paper Money, the International Bank Note
  Society Journal, the Bank Note Reporter and The Numismatist.

  After the word syngraphics was introduced I did not lobby to
  have it included in encyclopedias and dictionaries. Before the
  last edition of the Oxford Dictionary was released I submitted
  it and received a favorable response. However, I'm uncertain
  if it was included."

  So, readers...  Do you know if the word has made it to any
  non-numismatic dictionaries or encyclopedias?

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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