What is "rosetta stone"

discovered 1798 at Rosetta, Egypt; now in British Museum. Dating to 2c. B.C.E., its trilingual inscription helped Jean-François Champollion decipher Egyptian demotic and hieroglyphics in 1822, which opened the way to study of all early Egyptian records. Hence, figurative use of the term to mean "something which provides the key to previously unattainable understanding" (1902). The place name is the European form of Rashid, a name given because it was founded c.800 C.E. by Caliph Harun ar-Rashid.

The Rosetta Stone is a rock stele, found in 1799, inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC on behalf of King Ptolemy V. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion is Demotic script, and the lowest is Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts (with some minor differences among them), the stone provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The stone, carved in black granodiorite, is believed to have originally been displayed within a temple, possibly at nearby Sais. It was probably moved during the early Christian or medieval period, and was eventually used as building material in the construction of Fort Julien near the town of Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta. It was rediscovered there in July 1799 by a soldier named Pierre-François Bouchard of the Napoleonic expedition to Egypt. It was the first Ancient Egyptian bilingual text recovered in modern times, and it aroused widespread public interest with its potential to decipher this previously untranslated hieroglyphic language. Lithographic copies and plaster casts began circulating among European museums and scholars. Meanwhile, British troops defeated the French in Egypt in 1801, and the original stone came into British possession under the Capitulation of Alexandria and was transported to London. It has been on public display at the British Museum almost continuously since 1802. It is the most-visited object in the British Museum.

Study of the decree was already under way when the first full translation of the Greek text appeared in 1803. It was 20 years, however, before the transliteration of the Egyptian scripts was announced by Jean-François Champollion in Paris in 1822; it took longer still before scholars were able to read Ancient Egyptian inscriptions and literature confidently. Major advances in the decoding were recognition that the stone offered three versions of the same text (1799); that the demotic text used phonetic characters to spell foreign names (1802); that the hieroglyphic text did so as well, and had pervasive similarities to the demotic ( Thomas Young, 1814); and that, in addition to being used for foreign names, phonetic characters were also used to spell native Egyptian words (Champollion, 1822–1824).

Ever since its rediscovery, the stone has been the focus of nationalist rivalries, including its transfer from French to British possession during the Napoleonic Wars, a long-running dispute over the relative value of Young and Champollion's contributions to the decipherment, and, since 2003, demands for the stone's return to Egypt.

Two other fragmentary copies of the same decree were discovered later, and several similar Egyptian bilingual or trilingual inscriptions are now known, including two slightly earlier Ptolemaic decrees (the Decree of Canopus in 238 BC, and the Memphis decree of Ptolemy IV, ca. 218 BC). The Rosetta Stone is, therefore, no longer unique, but it was the essential key to modern understanding of Ancient Egyptian literature and civilization. The term Rosetta Stone is now used in other contexts as the name for the essential clue to a new field of knowledge.

Rosetta Stone Language Learning is proprietary computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software published by Rosetta Stone Inc. The software uses images, text, and sound to teach words and grammar by spaced repetition, without translation. Rosetta Stone calls its approach Dynamic Immersion (a term which has been trademarked).

The software's title and logo allude to the Rosetta Stone, an ancient stone slab on which the Decree of Memphis is inscribed in three writing systems.

Rosetta Stone were a British Gothic rock band formed in the mid-1980s by Porl King (guitar/vocals/keyboards) and Karl North (bass), plus their drum machine and synthesizer rack nicknamed "Madame Razor".

The band was named after the Rosetta Stone, an Egyptian historical artifact, and the band used much ancient mythological imagery, especially in their earlier work.

Their early style and first album reflected the jangly-guitar sounds of 1980s gothic rock, and their first big break came after live gigs supporting the then already well-established band The Mission.

The Rosetta Stone is an ancient artifact used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Rosetta Stone may also refer to:

• Rosetta Stone (project), a contemporary project to create near permanent archive of 1,000 languages
• Rosetta Stone (company), a software company
  • Rosetta Stone (software), language learning software

Rosetta Stone Inc. is a global education technology software company that develops language, literacy and brain-fitness software. Best known for its Rosetta Stone Language-Learning solutions products, in 2013 the company expanded beyond language and deeper into education-technology with its acquisitions of Livemocha, Lexia Learning, Fit Brains and Tell Me More.

Rosetta Stone was a Northern Irish pop rock band from Downpatrick Northern Ireland, which included the ex- guitarist of the Bay City Rollers, Ian Mitchell. The group released two albums and one EP before dissolving in 1984.

The genesis of Rosetta Stone came in 1973, as childhood friends Mitchell, Terry McKee, Damian McKee, and Colin McKee (not the footballer Colin McKee) formed a band called Young City Stars. They played local clubs and dance halls, often opening concerts for the Bay City Rollers.

In early 1976, Mitchell left the Young City Stars to join the Bay City Rollers. He was replaced by Belfast-born guitarist Andy LeGear. Mitchell would return later that year as the group, now managed by Rollers manager Tam Paton, changed their name to Rosetta Stone. In 1977, Rosetta Stone signed with Private Stock Records. They appeared on Marc Bolan's TV show "Marc" performing their single, a cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love". Their eponymous debut album (known as Rock Pictures in some territories) was released in the United States in May 1978. A second album, Caught in the Act, followed in 1979.

In early 1979 Ian Mitchell once again departed, to be replaced by Paul "Flash" Lerwill. Lerwill (a former Edinburgh DJ at local hotspot "Clouds") left in 1982 and was replaced by Enda Walsh. That same year the EP "Hiding From Love" was released, after which the group permanently disbanded. The tracks "Hiding from Love", "Remember" and "Straight from the Heart", were all penned by Bryan Adams. "Hiding From Love", which had previously been a #64 hit in Canada for Adams in 1980, became a bigger hit for Rosetta Stone, where it reached #46 in Canada in 1982. Adams would later record his own version of "Straight From the Heart" in 1983, and made it a Top 20 hit in Canada and a Top 10 hit in the US.

There have been a number of Rosetta Fests (reunions) where the band have performed together again. The final fest, was held in Toronto in September 2007. In 2012 they held a sold out reunion show in their hometown at Mullan's Bar Downpatrick.