What is shorthand?
Shorthand is a script enabling the writer to write faster then in Longhand, which is a way to refer to cursive writing or normal writing. Influencial people in the past who did not want their speeches get lost, like Marcus Tullius Cicero, senator in the roman senate, 'hired' his greek slave Tiro as personal secretary to note down what happened at the senate. To be able to write 'verbatim' (write as fast as speakers talk) Tiro invented special signs and abbreviations known today as 'Tironian Notes'.
This art to jot down the essence of a speech, was later either called stenography (stenos, greek word for 'narrow') or tachygraphy (tachy, gr. = speed). The former term is still used in germanic countries, the latter in countries speaking any latin languages.
Today shorthand has to compete with stenotypes (a type of keyboard, that allows chord-strokes, hitting multiple keys at once), widely used in the US and audio recording, combined with speech to text features, the most common recording form today. There are still some countries like germany that employs stenographers who write down per hand on notepads, making use of recognition tools afterwards and manual transscription. In India, they still use a form of shorthand, imported from the british opressors back then.
Further information:
https://substr.network/s/shorthand

www.stenophile.com
Welcome! Latest Changes, Acquisitions, and Interesting Tidbits