28.11.25: the Domesday Book; reading the manuscript [iii] types of abbreviation [ii]

Two words that crop up when dealing with the manuscripts are worth noting.

The term sigla encompasses different types of scribal abbreviation although it can also indicate the source of a manuscript. However, it is abbreviated forms that are the focus of these posts.

Diacritic refers to signs which are written above or below or through certain letters e.g. German: ä; French: ç; Old English: ð; Polish: ł; Spanish: ñ; Norwegian: ø; Portuguese: õ Czech: ř Our contemporary use of diacritics usually denotes change in pronunciation of the letter e.g. French: comme [hard /c/ = k] but ça [pron: sa]. However, in Mediaeval manuscripts, signs which can be similar to some of these are a tool used to indicate abbreviation, not pronunciation.

(1) Image #1: The horizontal line (which can resemble a Spanish tilde ˜) is not a Latin macron (which shows vowel length), but an indication of missing letters at the end of a word, most frequently, but not necessarily, /m/ or /n/ i.e. nasal consonants. Equally the abbreviation can indicate omission of entire syllables or missing letters within the body of a word.  There are many examples in the text of abbreviation but not the nature of it, the understanding determined by context.

Depending on the script and the scribe, the abbreviation mark can be written vertically or as a curved mark or stroke or as an apostrophe; it really is a question of examining the individual manuscript. While some reference works will give specific letters or letter combinations that an abbreviation represents, that isn’t guaranteed. In the Domesday extract, the writer uses both horizontal and vertical abbreviations that are above the letter but, in one example, it is below it.

(i) -ā = -am; -ē = -em; -ī = in; -ū = um

quidā = quidam │ a certain

in pinkenhā = in Pinckenham [Pickenham]; note that, in the second occurrence of the name, the writer omits the /n/ i.e. in pikenham

idē = idem │ the same

ad ſedū [ſ = s; we’ll look at this in a later post] = ad sedum │ for the purpose of residence

(ii) However, the line can indicate the absence of several letters:

dux̄ = duxit │ he led

fem̅ = feminam │ woman

hō = homo │ man

ten̅ = tenuit │ (he) held

(iii) references to land and land measurements

XXX ać [transcript: c̄; also written in this manuscript as c̃ and c̓] │ 30 ac(res) i.e. they all mark the abbreviation of the same word: Middle English acer / aker from OE æcer (field; unit of land measurement)

ī illa tr̅a = in illa terra │ on that land

tr̅ḛ = terrae │ of land

dim̅ [ = dimidium ] car̃ │ half a ‘plough’; car̃ refers to a ‘plough’, or a ‘car(r)ucate’, a measurement of land estimated at 120 acres: “The notional area of land able to be farmed in a year by a team of 8 oxen pulling a carruca plow” (Wiktionary); the word is derived from CL: carūca / carruca, -ae [1/f] chariot; carriage, but in French it acquired the meaning of ‘plough’ (charrue)

II . ac̃ . ¦ 7 [7 = and; will be discussed in a later post] ¦ dim̅ . ¦ p̆ti . [ = prati] │ 2 acres ¦ and ¦ a half ¦ of meadow; prātus, -ī [2/m] or prātum, -ī [2/n]

(iv) The 4th line of the manuscript begins: ſine dono . r . │ without a grant from the king / the king’s grant, i.e. a good example of a single letter – r – that needs to be understood in context as referring to rēx, rēgis [3/m]: king