28.11.25: the Domesday Book; reading the manuscript [v] types of abbreviation [iv]; mind your p’s and q’s

Image #1: The most common letters with a horizontal stroke through them were p and q

[i] the /p/ with a stroke through it [ꝑ] can have different meanings i.e. par /por/ pre or, here, -per

ſēꝑ = semper │ always

[ii] ꝗ equals an entire word i.e. quam; can also appear with an additional diacritic indicating abbreviation i.e. ꝗ̃

(5) pꝰ: the letter which looks like a 9 indicates -os or -us or simply -s; it has a distinctive position written above the line

The small [ꝰ] is a good example of a superscript symbol; the term can apply to symbols or letters that are often smaller than the main text and written above the text line.

Combining our p’s and q’s we reach:

pꝰ • ꝗ ¦ rex uenit in iſtam patriā = postquam rex venit in istam patriam │  after ¦ the king came into this land