The Lorm’s Alphabet
It is a hand-touch alphabet by which the speaker shows the letters by the touch of his index finger to the palm and the fingers of the receiver. It was created by an Austrian deaf-blind poet Heinrich Landesmann, known also under his pseudonym Hieronymus Lorm in the 19th century. At the age of 15 he had lost his hearing and his sight was failing what led him to a creation of one of hand-touch alphabet systems. He used it for his personal purposes.
For communication the palm side of the left hand is used, fingers have to be a little stretched and spread.
The letters:
A – the tip on the thumb
B – strike downwards along the index finger from the tip till above the palm
C – the middle point on the wrist
D – strike downwards along the middle finger from the tip till above the palm
E – the tip of the index finger
F – side squeeze together the tips of the index finger and the middle finger
G – strike downwards along the ring finger from the tip till above the palm
H – strike downwards along the little finger from the tip till above the palm
CH – side squeeze together the tips of the ring finger and the little finger
I – the tip of the middle finger
J – side squeeze the tip of the middle finger
K – touch with all the four fingers tips together in the middle of the palm
L – long strike downwards along the middle finger from the tip through the palm till above the wrist
M – the base of the little finger
N – the base of the index finger
O – the tip of the ring finger
P – strike upwards on the outside of the index finger to the tip
Q – strike upwards on the outside of the little finger to the tip
R – drum slightly with the tips of the index finger, the middle finger and then the ring finger in the middle of the palm
S – make a circle in the middle of the palm by the index finger
T – strike downwards on the thumb from the tip till the palm
U – the tip of the little finger
V – the base of the thumb
W – twice the base of the thumb
X – horizontal strike from left to right over the wrist
Y – horizontal strike from the index to the little finger over the bases of all fingers
Ý – horizontal strike from the index to the little finger over the bases of all fingers, finished upwards on the outside of the little finger to the tip
Z – diagonal strike from the thumb to the little finger over the palm
Long vowels:
A short strike on the tip of the finger of the given vowel to the fingertip.
Numbers:
Numbers can be expressed in the two ways:
to write Arabic numbers as the outlines on the palm; determination of thousand, million, billion by their abbreviations (thous. or k, m, bn),
to use a sign as in Braille writing: 1=A, 2=B, 3=C, 4=D, 5=E, 6=F, 7=G, 8=H, 9=I, 0=J, a reversed „L” strike (long strike from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger) use before the number.
A gap between words:
A strike over the palm by the open hand.
The end of the sentence:
A double strike over the palm by the open hand.
I do not understand:
Close the palm.
Mistake:
A gentle clap on the palm.
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