Definition.

The word "Demotic" refers to both the natural developmental stage of the Egyptian language in the Late Period (664–332 B.C.E.), Ptolemaic Period (332–30 B.C.E.), and Roman Period (30 B.C.E.–395 C.E.), as well as a new script. The script developed from a highly cursive form of hieratic, the cursive form of hieroglyphs. This even more cursive hieratic appeared in Memphis toward the end of the New Kingdom (1075 B.C.E.). In the seventh century B.C.E., there is some evidence that scribes deliberately modified the script for writing legal contracts and documents. These changes were related to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty's reorganization of the government. Demotic, however, was not actually used to record literature until the fourth century B.C.E. Scribes used Demotic under the native Egyptian government and subsequent Greek and Roman governments.

Difficulty.

Most Egyptologists find Demotic more difficult...