epistology

English

Etymology

From Latin epistola or its etymon Ancient Greek ἐπῐστολή (epistolḗ) +‎ -ology.

Noun

epistology (uncountable)

1. The study of letters and epistles.
   • 1958, The Yale Literary Magazine, page 50:

     Chapter Five is an analysis of several poems further to clarify Carew’s ideas, and six, “The Crown of Bays” treats other genres of Carew’s poetry—epistology and elegy.

   • 1959, University Review, page 18:

     Considered from the point of view of epistology form, ‘To Mr B.B.’ is interesting as a type of deliberative epistle, with a fairly simple structure: […]

   • 1980, Mark R. Cohen, “The Problem of Origins”, in Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt: The Origins of the Office of the Head of the Jews, CA. 1065-1126, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 46:

     A further methodological problem of Geniza epistology—aside from the paleographic and stylistic obstacles common to Geniza documents generally—stems from the fact that writers of letters and their addressees (then, as today) knew things of which we are ignorant.

   • 1994, Helen Chukwuma, editor, Feminism in African Literature: Essays on Criticism, Enugu: New Generation Books, →ISBN, page 96:

     Sembene uses the epistology form to elicit the female point of view in sensitive issues. These letters are written by female characters revealing their female experiences.

   • 2005, “Friends”, in Colin White, editor, Nelson: The New Letters, The Boydell Press in association with the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval Museum, →ISBN, part one (The Man and the Admiral), page 24:

     We can now go some way towards filling this gap in the Nelson epistology. Five new letters to Cornwallis are included in this book, two of which are placed in this section.

Usage notes

Do not confuse epistology and epistolary with epistemology and epistemic.

Anagrams

• oligotypes, pisteology, typologies