07.02.26: Comenius CVI; the Celestial Sphere [6]; text and vocabulary [5](ii)

Take a second look at images #2 and #3 from the previous post

If you are looking at any original Mediaeval or, here, Renaissance documents, you will see abbreviations, letter forms and spellings that are not in Classical Latin. There are many of these and a number of them were discussed in posts concerning both the Domesday Book and the Bayeux Tapestry:

[i]

ORIĒS / OCCIDĒS = oriens / occidens

COELV͞ = coelum (caelum)

It can be simply a line or what looks like a Spanish tilde (˜) or, for want of a better term, a ‘squiggle’ above a vowel. In original documents it is not a macron i.e. an indicator of vowel length, but usually indicates the omission of /n/ or /m/ i.e. nasalised sounds. However, it isn’t confined to that usage. Depending on the writer it can indicate the absence of a group of letters, in the same way that we would use a ‘full stop’ e.g. info. for information.

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

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/08/281125-domesday-book-reading-manuscript.html

This example from the Bayeux Tapestry shows the use of the abbreviation to omit groups of letters

HIC PORTATVR CORPVS EADWARDI REGIS AD ECCLESIAM SC͞T PETRI AP͞LI

Hīc portātur corpus Eadwardi regis ad ecclesiam Sancti Petri Apostoli

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/07/130725-bayeux-tapestry-2.html

[ii] Various symbols were used to indicate the absence of a letter or small group; becoming familiar with these is a whole field of study in itself

What looks like a small number 9:

POLVS ARCTIC⁹ = arcticus

POLVS ANTAR(c)TIC⁹ = antar(c)ticus

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

Note (5)

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/08/281125-domesday-book-reading-manuscript_35.html

[iii] long /s/ i.e. ſ

[iv] abbreviation for ‘and’, similar to 7; it is called an ampersand, and an equivalent can be found which is still used today i.e. &

eclipſis ſolis 7 lune = eclipsis solis et lunae [note also: spelling shift /ae/ > /e/]

For both [iii] and [iv] above:

01.12.25: the Domesday Book; reading the manuscript [vi] types of abbreviation [v]; the long s

Long s: note (1); Ampersand: note (4)

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/09/011225-domesday-book-reading-manuscript.html