Aulay Macaulay

Aulay Macaulay ( * before 1747 † after 1756; precise dates unknown ) developed from Scotland and invented a Stenografiesystem, received under the author name in the shorthand of history. About his life outside of his stenographic activity, no further details are known.

System description and Publications

In 1747 (1st and 2nd edition in the same year ), he published his " Polygraphy " and stated that he had carefully studied previous systems, but these were consistently difficult to learn and difficult to read, in his opinion all and an unclear regulatory framework would. For this reason, he wanted to publish their own system after several years of work.

Aulay Macaulay's " Polygraphy " belongs to the geometric shorthand systems so-called because the letters were characters from point, line, ellipse formed and circle (or part thereof trains ). Macaulay is the inventor and founder of the vocal writing direction in the UK. The vowels were consistently written literally and not before as indicated in the systems by symbology on the following consonants (eg by reduction and change of position or points at certain locations ). Macaulay gave the vowels own little characters that he associated with the ends of the preceding consonants to single syllable characters. Thus his system is one of the so-called vocal connection systems ( engl. "joined vowels systems" ).

Macaulay also used for the first time three different sizes in two position for vowels, consonants and consonant combinations. So meant, for example, the flat line based on length either a, i or h, in higher position then also depending on the length either gl, pr or gr Thus, the same character had on and above the line have different meanings. The result was that the words had to be interrupted because the characters were not on the line at the same height and then could not be connected. Macaulay had to write, for example: In the beginning god ing crea ted the hea ven and the ea rth. The various phonetic characters had the same additional word meanings. His shorthand system was divided into two parts. On his "long hand ", he assembled an " Shorthand ".

In the third edition of his " Polygraphy " which he published in 1756, Aulay Macaulay was the resulting of the position within the line multiple meanings as impractical on again. He wanted to thereby remedy the complaints of lack of clarity of the different placement of the letters. Macaulay had now created a one-line alphabet. This third edition was in the Ringel characters and quarter circles also the influence of the major system inventor John Byrom (1692 - 1763) recognize.

In Macaulay's publications are limited compared to the textbooks of other system inventors of his time reading the many exercises. So he transferred various psalms and texts from the first book of Moses from the Old Testament in the Macaulaysche Stenografiesystem. He was confirmed by those listed with occupation and address 13 witnesses in the second and third edition of his " Polygraphy " that he 's shorthand as taught a boy at the age of just eight years in four lessons that this read after so fluid and could write as the conventional font. For a lesson Macaulay ask a guinea.

The word created by Aulay Macaulay " Polygraphy " should mean that his shorthand was applied to all languages ​​, in his view ( "fitted to all languages" according to the title page ). An example was in the textbooks of the 117th Psalm shorthand in eight languages, namely in Welsh, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek and Hebrew.

Use by Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg

The best known practical users of Macaulayschen shorthand in German-speaking was the most important statesman in the Bishopric of Münster, Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg ( 1729-1810 ). His diaries he led in French and partly in English. Since 1761, he used for the system of Aulay Macaulay, which he mastered very clever, for the French language. This system has transformed Freiherr von Fürstenberg in the further course of his diary. In particular, he created the third lengths for l, v and w, and replaced them by points. He realized that three sizes of a character form, each with a different meaning according to the re- readability are too vague. Freiherr von Furstenberg also set up a separate directory with shortcuts shorthand short forms for common words and syllables.

Professor and Executive Council Ernst Ahnert (1859 - 1945), who was also involved in the creation of the German unit shorthand, translated in 1912 Freiherr von Fürstenberg's diary in longhand. These transfers are contemporary cultural documents of immense value dar. Ahnert praised the stenographers Fürstenberg and its application and further development of the system of Aulay Macaulay with the following words: " The eminent man who is admirable in so many areas, has also so already have a place in the history of stenography secured, one of the first who maintained the art on German soil, and as one who borrowed from a foreign nation a writing system, it meets with new thoughts and now used almost as his own mind works for a second foreign language has. "