Documentary Hands Practice

Read some words with papal knots. Note that the knot often indicates a missing -er in the word (right above where it appears).

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4. Which word in this snippet contains a papal knot?

Word #1      Word #2      Word #3      Word #4

Documentary Majuscules

What majuscule (capital) letter forms do the following examples start with?

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6.

7.

Read words that begin with majuscule (capital) letters.

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Word Formation

Most manuscripts you will encounter will contain at least a few abbreviations. This copy of the Magna Carta contains many. If a word has been abbreviated, there will be a symbol or stroke indicating where letters are missing.

Match the abbreviated words to their correct transcription.

	11. alienius alicuius alterius
	12. quoniam diu quamdiu quandam
	13. extra examina et cetera
	14. pondiferus ponderilius ponderibus

Letter W

The most common use of the letter w is for people's and place names. Read a name that begins with w, and also contains a papal knot!

15.

Minims

One difficulty in reading Gothic scripts has to do with distinguishing minims. It is often hard, for example, to tell the difference between in, ni and m.

Sometimes scribes, particularly later scribes, will add a stroke to help you out. But mostly you have to rely on your knowledge of Latin to figure out what word is intended. Note: Yes, 16 and 17 are two different words.

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Challenge: Read the phrase!
Tip: When editors can't figure out what a particular word is, sometimes they look up other nearby phrases in printed editions of the work. Here's the Magna Carta in case you want to look up a phrase!

For help look at this

type your answer here, with no punctuation