Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of
shorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
previously common in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
. Created circa 1817 by
Franz Xaver GabelsbergerFranz Xaver Gabelsberger was a German inventor of a shorthand writing system, named Gabelsberger shorthand after him....
, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook
Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenkunst oder Stenographie and became rapidly used.
Gabelsberger shorthand has a full alphabet with signs for both consonants and vowels. The
consonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...
signs were made by simplifying the features of
cursiveCursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing notes and letters quickly by hand. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic writing systems, the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single complex stroke...
LatinThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...
letters.
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Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of
shorthandShorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...
previously common in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
. Created circa 1817 by
Franz Xaver GabelsbergerFranz Xaver Gabelsberger was a German inventor of a shorthand writing system, named Gabelsberger shorthand after him....
, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook
Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenkunst oder Stenographie and became rapidly used.
Gabelsberger shorthand has a full alphabet with signs for both consonants and vowels. The
consonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...
signs were made by simplifying the features of
cursiveCursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing notes and letters quickly by hand. In the Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic writing systems, the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single complex stroke...
LatinThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...
letters. The vowel signs are used mainly when a vowel stands at the beginning or the end of a word. Vowels in the middle of words are represented symbolically, mainly by varying the position and the impact of the following consonant signs. Contrary to the practice in many English shorthand systems (e.g.
Pitman ShorthandPitman shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Englishman Sir Isaac Pitman , who first presented it in 1837. Like most systems of shorthand, it is a phonetic system; the symbols do not represent letters, but rather sounds, and words are, for the most part, written...
), vowels are never entirely omitted.
Most German shorthand systems published after 1834 are ultimately based on Gabelsberger's system. Modern German shorthand,
Deutsche EinheitskurzschriftDeutsche Einheitskurzschrift is a German stenography system. The original version was officially introduced in 1924. In 1968, a revised version was introduced. The shorthand is written in three levels: Verkehrsschrift, Eilschrift and Redeschrift...
, retains most of the consonant signs of Gabelsberger's alphabet but has a modified system of vowel representation.
Gabelsberger shorthand was adopted into a large number of languages and was particularly successful in Scandinavia, the Slavic countries, and Italy. A host of shorthand systems have since appeared that build on the graphic principles laid down by Gabelsberger.