'archaeography' originates from Greek, specifically from the elements 'arkhaios' meaning 'ancient' and 'graphia' meaning 'writing or description'.

'archaeography' was formed in Modern English by combining the Greek-derived prefix 'archaeo-' (from Greek 'arkhaios') with the suffix '-graphy' (from Greek 'graphia'), in analogy with terms like 'archaeology' and 'bibliography'.

Initially used to denote 'writing about ancient things' or 'descriptions of antiquities'; over time it has come to refer more specifically to the scholarly editing, description, and publication of ancient documents and records.