Chronogram, or CHRONOGRAPH (Gr. chronos, 'time,' gramma, 'a letter,' or grapho, 'I write'), a whimsical device of the later Romans, resuscitated during the Renaissance period, by which a date is given by selecting certain letters amongst those which form an inscription, and printing them larger than the others. The principle will be understood from the following example, made from the name of George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham:
GEORGIVS DVX BVCKINGAMLE.
The date MDCXVVIII (1628) is that of the year in which the Duke was murdered by Felton at Portsmouth. Another well-known example conveys the date in the inscription upon a medal struck by Gustavus Adolphus in 1632:
CHRISTVS DVX; ERGO TRIVMPHV.
See collections by Hilton (1882, 1885, and 1896).