'epigraphics' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'epigraphē', where 'epi-' meant 'upon' and 'graphein' meant 'to write'.

'epigraphē' passed into Late Latin and Medieval Latin as 'epigraphia' and into English via the adjective 'epigraphic', eventually giving rise to the plural/collective form 'epigraphics'.

Initially, it referred literally to 'writing upon' (inscriptions); over time it came to denote both the physical inscriptions themselves and, by extension, the study of such inscriptions.