Definition of Rosetta stone

1. Noun. A part of an inscribed granite stela that was originally about six feet tall and was set up in 196 BC; the inscriptions in hieroglyphics and Demotic and Greek gave the first clues to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Generic synonyms: Stela, Stele

Definition of Rosetta stone

1. Proper noun. A large inscribed stone found near Rosetta, Egypt, in 1799; later used as a basis for understanding many previously undecipherable examples of hieroglyphic writing. ¹

2. Proper noun. (qualifier hence) Any source of information crucial to interpreting. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Rosetta Stone

Rosenfeld
Rosengarten
Rosenmuller's fossa
Rosenmuller's gland
Rosenmuller's node
Rosenmuller's recess
Rosenmuller's valve
Rosenstein
Rosenthal
Rosenthal's canal
Rosenthal's vein
Rosenthal fibre
Rosenthaler-Turk reagent
Roser-Nelaton line
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta stone (current term)
Rosh Chodesh
Rosh Hashana
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashona
Rosh Hashonah
Rosh Hodesh
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism
Rosicrucianist
Rosicrucianists
Rosicrucians
Rosidae
Rosie
Rosina

Literary usage of Rosetta stone

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Mummy: Chapters on Egyptian Funereal Archaeology by Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (1894)
"The Rosetta stone is a slab of black basalt, which is now preserved in the British ... We may arrive at an idea of the original size of the Rosetta stone by ..."

2. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria by Gaston Maspero (1904)
"... The Rosetta stone : The Discoveries of Dr. Thomas Young: The Classification of the Egyptian Alphabet by Champollion : Egyptian Love-songs and ..."

3. Records of the Past by Records of the Past Exploration Society (1902)
"THE Rosetta stone THE Rosetta stone is the Key that unlocked the mysteries of ... TRANSLATION OF THE Rosetta stone. In the reign of the young1—who has also ..."

4. The Monuments of Upper Egypt: A Translation of the "Itinéraire de la Haute by Auguste Mariette, Lysander Dickerman (1890)
"The Rosetta stone is a fragment of a stela * discovered in the year 1799 by M. ... In addition to the Rosetta stone, which is in the British Museum, ..."

5. The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians: Including Their Private by John Gardner Wilkinson (1837)
"Again, in the Rosetta stone, and the papyri of Paris and Sig. D'Anastasy§, we find direct mention made of the priestesses of the queens. ..."

6. Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians: Including Their Private Life by John Gardner Wilkinson (1842)
"Again, in the Rosetta stone, and the papyri of Paris and Sig. D'Anastasy §, we find direct mention made of the priestesses of the queens. ..."

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