Assignment Three: INFO 284-11

Paleography Assignment
Three: Communication and
Texts
Nicole Texeira
INFO 284-11

Introduction:
Communication and Texts of Middle
Ages
We will be covering the following terms that apply
to communication and texts for the Middle Ages.
Glossing
Scriptura continua
Punctus
Word-spacing
Ligatures
Abbreviations
Nomina Sacra
Punctuation

Glossing
Glossing is the commentary, the interpretation, or
quotation from a manuscript within the written lines or
sometimes around the margins of the main text
(Tillotson, 2014).
Marginal interpretations are often incorporated into
the glosses either accidentally or in some case
intentionally (Ductus,2015).
Glossing and marginalia are popular forms of scribes’
and readers’ interpretation of the topics within
manuscripts.

Examples of Glossing
Images sources: Kwakkel (2014) and Tillotson (2014)
Berkeley, Bancroft Library, MS 85 (14th
Octopus!
B.5.4 - Prima Pars Psalterii Glostali Sec. Herebutum de Bosham:
Augustinus disagrees with what has been written in manuscript.
• These examples of glossing also features
marginalia, or drawings that scribes and
readers incorporated into the manuscript.
• Also, the use of manicula or denote
important points within the text. The
example on the right is an octopus
manicula.
Manuscript from Ductus, (2015) that
contains information on movement of
planets and a gloss of the original text.

Scriptura Continua
Scriptura Continua refers to a script that has text that
runs together in a continuous line of writing without any
punctuation marks.
Many ancient texts and inscriptions contained scriptura
continua.
Full stops and raised points were used to signify new
words within the continuous line of words.
Texts and inscriptions written in scriptura continua were
meant to be read aloud so that the phrases from the
text could be understood due to their phonetic and
rhythmic sounds.

Example of Scriptura Continua
• This monumental inscription taken from the Trajan
Column in Rome represents scriptura continua.
• Note the lack of punctuation and the use of capital
letters known as Square Capitals.

Punctus
Punctus is Latin for “point” and refers to the use of points, and other
punctuation within a manuscript.
Punctus or points are above the base line within the text.
There are several forms of punctus, such as:
Punctus flexus
Punctus elevatus
Punctus interrogativus
Punctus exclamtivus
Punctus versus
Each form represents a type of punctuation within the text.

Forms of Punctus
Punctus flexus is a small “u” shape placed over the period within
manuscripts. This form of punctus was used in the 10th century
(Reimer, 2015).
Punctus elevatus is a version of a small semi colon that had a tail
that pointed up to the left. This form was used between the 12th to 15th
centuries (Reimer, 2015).
Punctus interrogativus is a small squiggle shape often seen above
the period at the end of the sentence. A modern interpretation of this
punctus form is a equivalent to question mark! This interesting form
of punctuation was used in the 17th century (Reimer, 2015).
Punctus exclamtivus also known as punctus admirativus is a
medieval form of the exclamation mark. This type of punctuation
appeared in “the second half of the fourteenth century” (Parkes, 1992).
Punctus versus is a small form of the number 7 over the period. In
medieval manuscripts is represents the final pause or the mark of end
of the sentence (Reimer, 2015).

Examples of Punctus
Forms
• Example # 1 represents a punctus interrogativus because it is
squiggle shape over a period.
• Example # 2 is punctus versus because it is a semi colon which
means to end the sentence.
• Example # 3 is punctus elevatus because it is a medieval colon
form.
• Example # 4 looks like punctus exclamtivus due to the period
point with a dash above it.
• Example #5 is minor u shape over a period, which is punctus
flexus.
#1
#2 #3
#4 #5

Word-Spacing
Medieval manuscripts were written with different
characteristics for word-spacing.
In ancient Latin texts, scribes incorporated
scriptura continua into manuscripts and
inscriptions so that readers knew that there were
breaks in between words and phrases.
By the development of the Gothic manuscripts, in
the Middle Ages scribes used punctus as a form
of punctuation and separation of texts (Saenger,
2000).

Examples of Word-Spacing
Opera [the 'Codex Palatinus'): Aeneid,
IV.509-532
• The manuscript above is from Virgil’s Aeneid it characterizes
scriptura continua and the text is written in Roman Rustic Capitals.
Note the lack of word-spacing, but use of points within the text.
• Manuscripts written in the Middle Ages in the Gothic hand had more
space, like this text from Ripon Psalter (1418 A.D.

Ligatures
Tillotson(2014) defines the term ligature as a
method of writing when a combination of two
distinct letters are merged to form a new type of
shape.
Ligatures also join or link two letters together
(Ductus, 2015).
Finally, ligatures were used frequently within
medieval manuscripts due to their ability to link
letters together.

Examples of Ligatures
• Using Historia
Scholastica II.25 (1283-1300
A.D.) as an example, we
will closer at the ligatures
present within this Gothic
textualis quadrata written
form.
• This text was selected as
an example because it
contains many ligatures
within its document.
• The pictures on the left
demonstrate the amount
of the ligatures present in
this manuscript.
• Ligatures are highlighted
with an arrow.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations were a popular device used in writing
medieval manuscripts.
Abbreviations were utilized due to the length of time
and effort it took to complete medieval books.
Many standard forms of abbreviations were created
so that scribes could use abbreviations within their
texts.
Also, abbreviations were significant to the
development of sacred names.

Examples of Abbreviations
Using this document from The
Benedictional of St Æthelwold (971 and 984
A.D.) we can identify some abbreviations
used within the text.
This image is an
abbreviation for “et” with
an ampersand.
“rci” is an
abbreviati
on for
“sancti”.
What looks
like “rpu”
actually is
an
abbreviatio
n for
This another image is an
abbreviation for the word “et”
using an ampersand.

Nomina Sacra
Nomina Sacra or Nomen Sacrum denotes the
Christian abbreviation of holy name for God,
deities, or sacred concepts (Tillotson, 2014).
The earliest forms of the nomina sacra were
found in the words “God”, “Lord”, “Jesus”, and
“Christ” (Hurtado, 2010).
Popular nomina sacra abbreviations include:
dns= dominus
ds= deus
sps or scs = spiritus sanctus

Examples of Nomina Sacra
Nomina
sacra
“do” for
“Deo”
Nomina
sacra
“ds” for
“deus”
Nomina
sacra
“dnm” for
“dominum”
Nomina
sacra
for
“scæ”
Nomina
sacra
“sps” for
“spiritus”

Punctuation
According to Tillotson (2014) punctuation is a tool that is used to
dictate what will be written within a manuscript.
Punctuation also presents the syntactical structure of the text
along with different punctuation conventions to strengthen the
effect of the text (Ductus, 2015).
Medieval punctuation is important to the development of
modernized punctuation marks such as the comma (,) the
question mark (?) the colon (:) the semi colon (;) and the period
(.)
Also, other punctuation conventions such as the use of capital
letters, word spacing, and page formatting all stem medieval
punctuation.

Examples of Medieval
PunctuationExample taken from: Scriptores Historiae Augustae, 1479
(Ductus, 2015)
• Scriptores Historiae Augustae contains several types
of punctuation. The example above contains three
colons.
• The examples on the bottom also taken from
Scriptores Historiae Augustae feature a parenthesis, a
period, and a capital letter along with a period. Each
example

References
Digitized Medieval Manuscripts. (2015). “Prima Pars Psalterii Glostali Sec. Herebutum de Bosham”. [website}. Retrieved from:
https://digitizedmedievalmanuscripts.org/trinity-college-cambridge/#jp-carousel-604
Ductus. (2015). Sessions 12-15. Retrieved from: http://amazon.sjsu.edu/html-ductus/engine/mother.html
Hurtado, L. (2010). “Nomina sacra: the continuing debate”. [blog post]. Retrieved from:
https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/nomina-sacra-the-continuing-debate/
Inscription on Trajan Column. (n.d.) [image source]. Retrieved from:
http://www.codex99.com/typography/images/ancient/trajan_inscr_lg.jpg
Kwakkel, E. (2014). “Getting Personal in the Margin”. [website]. Retrieved from: http://medievalbooks.nl/2014/09/05/getting-
personal-in-the-margin/
Marcos, J. (2014). Latin paleography. [website]. Retrieved from:
http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/jmag0042/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf
Parkes, M. B. (1992). Pause and effect: punctuation of the west. Aldershot: Scolar.
Reimer (2015). “Manuscript Studies”. [website]. Retrieved from: http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/punc.htm
Saenger, P. (2000). Space between words: the origin of silent reading. [e-book]. Stanford University Press: Stanford,
California.
Tillotson, D. (2014). “Medieval Writing”. [website]. Retrieved from: http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/history2.htm

Assignment Three: INFO 284-11

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