Manuscript Studies
Medieval and Early Modern

IV.vi. Paleography: Scribal Abbreviations

Furthermore, this system of writing Latin in abbreviated form had, by the end of the Middle Ages, been developing over the course of a millenium, which partly explains the degree of its elaboration. One of Cicero's amanuenses, by the name of Tiro, invented a complete system of shorthand for recording Cicero's speeches as he delivered them, and one of the Tironian "notae" (his symbol for "et") continued in use throughout the Middle Ages (more on this below). Traube claimed that he could date a manuscript based on the system of abbreviation alone; studying the abbreviations can also help in locating a manuscript. Cappelli offers a dictionary of about 14,000 marks, and even it is far from complete, for his work is almost exclusively based upon Italian manuscripts (further, his dates are not reliable, especially for other parts of Europe), but the listing is convenient and helpful. There is now a computer program available ("Abbreviationes," for Macintosh computers) which presents the whole of Cappelli's dictionary and several others in a computer searchable database. For dating purposes, one should consult the technical works of Traube, Lindsay, Bains, Paap, and the new series of catalogues of "dated and datable" manuscripts (keeping in mind, though, that systems of abbreviation never actually "die out" completely, so attempts at dating are more secure on the side of the terminus ante quem non). Note also that the shapes of Arabic numerals are also useful in dating a manuscript.

Manuscript abbreviations are of basically two types: marks to indicate missing letters (suspensions) and marks which represent a whole word ("notae," such as in Tiro's shorthand system). A few of the most common of the thousands of symbols (especially ones which are common in both Latin and vernacular manuscripts) are described here; for a fuller sense of what can be involved, take a glance through Adriano Cappelli's Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane, 6th ed. (Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1979).

Notae

• Tironian nota for "et" (this frequently looks like a small number "7" or, later, a "z" or a "z" inside a circle; cf. the ampersand: &): Tiro was a member of Cicero's household who developed one of the first shorthand alphabets (called "Tironian notes"; the system involved about 13,000 separate symbols). While shorthand itself viewed with suspicion in the Middle Ages (like runes, Tironian notes were associated with magic and witchcraft; however, Archbishop Thomas Becket was influential in reviving interest in shorthand systems), one of the characters came into common use as a shorthand form of the Latin word "et" (and, by extension, for the English "and"). The Tironian "et" sign was used in Insular scripts, and it gradually, in the twelfth century, replaces the ampersand which was used in early Caroline minuscule; it survives through the Gothic period, but the ampersand re-emerges in the early modern period.

• Ampersand (&): alternates with (and in the modern period replaces) the Tironian nota for "and." Its name is derived from the phrase "and per se [by itself]" = and.

• common phrases may be severely abbreviated: "N.B." (or just a hand with a pointing finger) frequently can be found in the margin of a page, indicating "nota bene" (note well the passage marked). "I.e." for "id est" and "e.g." or "exempli gratia" survive in modern English.

The two most common (and most variable) marks are a macron above a letter or an apostrophe-like curl after or part of a letter; both can mean "some letters are missing" (though in late medieval manuscripts the apostrophe-like mark is frequently otiose: purely decorative, without significance). The macron most frequently indicates a missing m or n; the apostrophe most frequently indicates a terminal us.

• macron: usually indicates a missing m or n, or a missing syllable involving one of these nasals; it can also indicate other suspensions, such as a missing i in ion (it also frequently represents a medial or final syllable with i). A curled macron (a tilde) represents a missing a or a syllable with an a.

• a curled line extending from a final letter, or an apostrophe-shaped mark (it can be a small "9" shaped mark in a raised position after a letter), most frequently indicates a missing terminal us: "ver⁹" = "versus"; "ven⁹" = "Venus." It also is used medially and finally to denote e or er: p'iodic = periodic. This medieval suspension mark is the origin of the modern apostrophe to indicate missing letters in contractions, as in "don't."

• a mark shaped like a small number "9," or opened up like a reversed letter "c" with the stroke continuing down and to the left, and lowered on the line (so that the top of it is aligned with the top of lower case letters) appearing at the beginning of a word represents the syllable "com" or "con": "₉fort" = "comfort"; "₉ceived" = "conceived." This symbol with a macron above it = "contra."

• a yogh- or z-shaped character can represent a missing nasal: "eniz" = "enim"; "qzti" = "quanti"; it can also be used for a final "et" ("debz" = "debet") or "ue" ("necqz" = "necque").

• a character in a word-final position and shaped something like a number "4" (placed low on the line so that the top of it is aligned with the top of lower case letters) is frequently used to represent the syllable "rum" or "run" (or "arum" or "orum"); "line₄" = "linearum"; "re₄" = "rerum"; "eo₄" = "eorum"; etc. This can also be used more generally for any cluster of letters which include an r: "A₄" = "Aristoteles."

• Often scribes use "superscripts" to indicate abbreviations: "M^r" = modern "Mr." = "Mister"; "W^m" = "William"; "y^r" = "your"; "s^r" = "sir"; "ca^o" = "capitulo"; "for^e" = "forme"; "p^im" = "primum"; "p^ia" = "prima"; etc.

• There is a fairly complex system of small variants added to the letters p and q to represent some common Latin prefixes and words: p with tilde or superscript a = "pra"; p with macron = "pre"; p with superscript i overtop of it = "pri"; p with a curled line bisecting the descender (sometimes forming a loop on the left side of the descender) = "pro"; p a straight line bisecting the descender = "per," "par," or "por." q with tilde or superscript a overtop of it = "qua" (sometimes "quam"); q with macron = "que"; q with superscript o overtop of it = "quo"; q with a curled line bisecting the descender (sometimes forming a loop on the left side of the descender) = "quae" or "qui" or "quod" (or English "quoth"); q a straight line bisecting the descender = "que" or "quam" or "quid"; q with a following punctus = "quasi"; q with a punctus before and after = "quaestio" or "quondam"; q with a following yogh = "quia"; q⁹ = "quibus"; q^m = "quantum"; etc.