How to Read Latin Manuscripts: A Guide to Common Abbreviations
If you've ever looked at a photo of a medieval Latin manuscript, you might have noticed that it doesn't look like the clean, printed Latin in your textbook. Scribes in the Middle Ages were obsessed with saving space and time, leading to a complex system of abbreviations and shorthand.
This field of study is called paleography. If you want to read original documents, you need to know how to decode these scribal shortcuts.
Common Scribal Shortcuts
- The Macron (Line above a letter): Usually indicates a missing
morn. (e.g.,oī= omni,ā= am). - The Tironian "Et" (looks like a 7): A shorthand for the word et (and).
- Superscript Letters: A small letter above the line often indicates a missing syllable (e.g.,
qͭ= qui). - Terminal Flourishes: Special curves at the end of a word can indicate common endings like
-us,-is, or-rum.
Decoding with Latindictionary.io
When you encounter a word that you suspect is abbreviated, follow these steps:
- Find the Lemma: Once you guess the full word, search for it in our Dictionary to ensure it fits the grammatical context of the sentence.
- Verify Inflections: Use the inflection tables to see if the ending you decoded matches the case and number required by the syntax.
- Use the Analyzer: If you have a transcribed portion of a manuscript, paste it into our Text Analyzer to see if the results make sense. If a word comes back as "unknown," you may have missed an abbreviation!
Resources for Further Study
Paleography is a deep subject. We recommend checking out the digital collections at the Vatican Library or the British Museum, and then using latindictionary.io as your primary decoding tool.
Unlock the past. Start searching Latin lemmas now.