An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson.

  • Edward Maunde Thompson
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography / by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    109/624 page 89
    i-otaiiied to indicate the termination us (sometimes os), and so became a special sij^n (see below). A long drooping stroke attached to the end oh’ a word is often found as a general sign to indicate the snsiiension of any termination. It is, however, specially used for termination is. In the fourteenth century it ilevelopes into a loop, as dictf = A sign nearly resembling an inverted c or the numeral 9, Tironian in its origin, usually signifies the syllable con or com, also more rarely cun or cum, as 9do = coju^o, gnmnis=commuoiis, cir9scriptus = cir- camscriptiis, ()cti = cuactIt always stands in the line of writing. A similar sign (to which reference has already been made), above the line, represents the termination us, as hon^ = honus ] also more rarely os, as n^ = nos, p^t = />osb In the last word it is sometimes used for the whole termination ost, as p^. A sign somewhat resembling the numeral 2 placed obliquely 'V, also derived from a Tironian note, is written for the termination tir, as iimaC ^amatur. It is also jdaced horizontally, as ievt^=fertur. Being commonly emjiloj^ed in the case of verbs, it also sometimes stands for the ■whole termination tur, as ama^. The letter having a curve drawn through the down stroke, p, is to be read pro. In Visigothic MSS., however, it signifies per, very rarely 2>ro, which is usually in such MSS. written in full. P crossed with a horizontal bar, p, is per, also par, por, as ptem =^>ar^em, optet = oportet. The same letter ■with a horizontal or waved oblique stroke or curve placed above it (when not at the end of a word) becomes as psertiin = presertim, prehet. The following conventional signs, partly from Tironian notes, are also used with more or less frequency, some of them especially in early Iri.sh and English MSS.:— ^=^autem, '^=eius, = — esse, -i-=est (which degenerates into a 5-shaped sign: see above), \l=2^°r, j =et, j— ctiam, i+j (later 4+and •++• and thence 'n-)=zeniui, = est,\—vel,-Q-—ohiit, obitus, h = /toc, v and h = ut. With regard to the Latin contracted form of our Lord’s name Jesus Christ, it is to be noted that it continued to be written by the later mediaeval scribes in Greek letters and in contracted form as it had been written in uncial MSS., thus : IHS XPS, or IHC XPC. When these words came to be Avritten in minuscule letters, the scribes treated them as if Latin words Avritten in Latin letters, and transcribed them ihs xps, ihc xpc. Hence arose the erroneous idea that the form Ihesus Avas the correct one, and by false analogy the letter h Avas introduced into other proper name.s, as Iherusalem, Israhel. Similarly the terminating letter c, ^ Tlie letter c surniountetl by liorizontal lino also represents cm.
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