Editing Tironian notes (section)

===Development===
Before Tironian shorthand became popularized,  literature professor Anthony Di Renzo explains, "no true Latin shorthand existed." The only systematized form of abbreviation in Latin was used for legal notations ({{lang|la|notae juris}}). This system, however, was deliberately abstruse and accessible only to people with specialized knowledge. Otherwise, shorthand was improvised for note-taking or writing personal communications, and some of these notations would not have been understood outside of closed circles. Some abbreviations of Latin words and phrases were commonly recognized, such as those of [[praenomina]], and were typically used for [[inscriptions]] on monuments.<ref name="DiRenzo" />

Scholars infer that [[Marcus Tullius Cicero]] (106–43&nbsp;BC) recognized the need for a comprehensive, standard Latin notation system after learning about the Greek shorthand system. Cicero presumably delegated the task of creating such a system for Latin to his slave and personal secretary [[Marcus Tullius Tiro|Tiro]]. Tiro's position required him to quickly and accurately transcribe dictations from Cicero, such as speeches, professional and personal correspondence, and business transactions, sometimes while walking through the [[Forum (Roman)|forum]] or during fast-paced and contentious government and legal proceedings.<ref name="DiRenzo" /> Nicknamed "the father of stenography" by historians,<ref name="Mitzschke 1882" /> Tiro developed a highly refined and accurate method that used [[Latin letters]] and abstract symbols to represent [[preposition]]s, truncated words, [[Contraction (grammar)|contractions]], syllables, and [[inflection]]s. According to Di Renzo: "Tiro then combined these mixed signs like notes in a score to record not just phrases, but, as Cicero marvels in a letter to [[Titus Pomponius Atticus|Atticus]], 'whole sentences.'"<ref name= "DiRenzo" /> Tiro's highly refined and accurate method became the first standardized and widely adopted system of Latin shorthand.<ref name= "DiRenzo" /> The system consisted of abbreviations and [[Symbol|abstract symbols]], which were either contrived by Tiro or borrowed from Greek shorthand.

[[File:Example of tironian Notes.svg|thumb|center|800px|Table with examples of Tironian notes which can be modified with various marks to form more complex ideas. A syllable being a consonant followed by a vowel.]]