Editing Chronogram (section)

===In books===
While the epitaphs, in addition to the chronograms, in many cases directly mention the dates, many manuscripts, and an even greater number of printed books, are dated simply by means of chronograms; authors, copyists, and [[typography|typographers]] rivaling one another in hiding the dates in intricate chronograms, most difficult to decipher. Hence, many data of Jewish [[bibliography]] still remain to be determined, or at least rectified. Down to recent times the custom of indicating dates by means of chronograms was so prevalent in Jewish literature that all but few books are dated by numerals only. In the earliest printed books the chronograms consist of one or two words only: the Soncino edition of the [[Talmud]], for instance, has for its date the earliest printed chronogram, גמרא ("Gemara") = 244 (1484 C.E.). Words like רננו ("rejoice ye!"), שמחה ("joy"), ברנה ("with rejoicing") were especially used for this purpose, as they express happiness. Later on, entire verses of the Bible, or sentences from other books, having some reference to the contents or title of the book, or to the name of the author, publisher, printer, etc., were used. In longer sentences, in which some of the letters were not utilized in the chronogram, those that counted were marked by dots, lines, or different type, or were distinguished in other ways. Innumerable errors have been made by bibliographers because the distinguishing marks were missing or blotted, or had been omitted. To this source of confusion must be added the varying methods of indicating the "thousand" of the Jewish [[calendar era|era]]. The Italian, [[Oriental]], and earlier [[Amsterdam]] editions frequently designate the thousand as {{lang|he|לפ״ג}} <span style="direction:ltr" dir="ltr">(&nbsp;=&nbsp;{{lang|he|לפרט גדול}}, "the major era")</span>. The German and Polish editions omit the thousand, considering only {{lang|he|לפ״ק}} <span style="direction:ltr" dir="ltr">(&nbsp;=&nbsp;{{lang|he|לפרט קטן}}, "the minor era")</span>; but as neither the former nor the latter is employed throughout the respective editions, many errors arise. The following chronogram, which Rabbi [[Samuel Schotten]] adds to his work "Kos ha-Yeshu'ot" ([[Frankfurt]], 1711), shows how artificial and verbose chronograms may be: "Let him who wishes to know the year of the Creation pour the contents out of the cup [i.e., count the word "kos," כוס with defective spelling = 80] and seek aid [{{lang|he|ישועה}}&nbsp;<span style="direction:ltr" dir="ltr">=&nbsp;391; together 471]</span> in the sixth millennium." The days of the month and week are indicated in the same way.<ref name="jewish_encyclopedia" />

Many important years in [[Jewish history]] are indicated by their respective chronograms; e.g., the year 1492 by מזרה ("scatterer" = 252, after Jer. xxi. 10, which says that God scattered Israel). This was the year when the Jews were expelled from Spain ([[Abarbanel|Abravanel]]'s Introduction to his Commentary on [[Books of Kings|Kings]]).<ref name="jewish_encyclopedia" />