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

(1) Images #1 and #2: In general, horizontal or diagonal lines through the letters: q, p, b, l, h, t indicate that some letters were omitted which needed to be supplied by the reader. In describing the formation of these letters you will come across the terms [i] ascender and [ii] descender:

[i] ascender: refers to the part of the letter that extends above the main body of the text e.g. in b, d; therefore, the horizontal line in ƀ and đ may be described as going through the ascender of the letter

[ii] descender: that part of the letter below the main body e.g. p or q; therefore, a horizontal line in ꝑ and ꝗ may be described as going through the descender of the letter

liƀ = liber; ſine liƀatione = sine liberatione │ transl. without livery i.e. without compensation

quidā liƀ hō = quidam liber homo │ a certain free man

hunđ (the manuscript does not mark the abbreviation [hun∂], but the transcription does) test̃ = hundredum testis / testatur │ witness the Hundred, the term ‘Hundred’ referring to an administrative unit of a county in Anglo-Saxon and Norman England. The entire phrase refers to a local jury i.e. from the Hundred, often comprising 12 men (6 English and 6 Norman) who were asked a set list of questions concerning, for example, tenancy and land values to which they gave sworn answers. The entry is then marked “witness the Hundred” i.e. it is acting as evidence.

https://www.domesdaybook.net/domesday-book/structure-of-domesday-book/hundred

(2) Money: before decimalisation in 1971, English currency was calculated as pounds, shillings and pence abbreviated to L ( = Latin: libra) S ( = Latin: solidus) D ( = Latin: denarius), the £ sign being a development of L i.e. £SD; two of the values are represented in the extract:

(a) ſēꝑ uał III ſoł │ has always been worth 3 shillings

uał = valet; ſoł = Latin solidus, but the term in Middle English refers to the shilling coin

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/solidus

(b) 1 shilling = 12 pence: in the Domesday book the smallest unit of currency recorded is the denarii i.e. the English ‘pence’; it is indicated in the manuscript by a stroke through d: [ð]

The manner in which he writes it is the same as an Old English letter with a specific pronunciation: ð, used interchangably with þ, = /th/ either as in think or in father, but its function here is not connected with OE, and is transcribed as [đ]: XVI ð [transcr. XVI đ] = 16 pence

Image #3: Mediaeval silver pennies