'palaeography' originates from Greek, specifically the elements 'palaios' and 'graphein', where 'palaios' meant 'old' and 'graphein' meant 'to write'.

'palaeography' came into English via New Latin 'palaeographia' and French 'paléographie', ultimately from Greek; the form settled in English as 'palaeography' (also spelled 'paleography' in US usage).

Initially it referred broadly to 'ancient writing' (the writings themselves); over time it came to mean the scholarly study and analysis of ancient handwriting and scripts.