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Palaeographical English terms

Ductus: the overall, general "nature" of the production of a given script, defined in terms

of the "number, sequence, and direction of the strokes used in forming each letter of the

script's alphabet. . . . A knowledge of ductus, which is more concerned with the dynamic

than with the static aspect of letters, can be helpful in reading, dating, and placingscripts, but its most important service comes in explaining changes in the appearance of

letters. It is largely ductus which determines where the inertial forces and strainsgenerated by rapid writing will express themselves. But if ductus can help generate

changes in appearance, changes in appearance can also generate changes in ductus"

(James J. John, "Latin Paleography,"Medieval Studies, 2nd ed., p. 8).

Stroke: a single sweep of the pen; may be a single "movement" (that is, with no change

of direction) or may be a "broken" stroke.

Otiose stroke: a superfluous stroke, not to be interpreted as part of a letter, a punctuation

mark, or as an indication of an abbreviation.A. Vertical strokes:Minim: the shortest and simplest stroke: the vertical (upright) stroke used to form the

letters "i," "m," "n," and "u." The word "minim" itself would be written in Gothic scriptwith 10 minims.

Ascenders, descenders: strokes ascending or descending from the "body" of the letter. It

can be useful to think of majuscules as fitting between twoimaginary lines, minusculesas fitting betweenfourlines (two lines defining the top and bottom of the body, two more

distant lines defining the extent of ascenders and descenders).

Stem: the minim with ascender or descender which supports the rest of the letter.

B. Horizontal strokes:Bar: the horizontal stroke of an "A" or "H."

Arms (hastas): the horizontal strokes of an "E," "F," or "L"; these extend from, but donot cross, the stem.

Head (top) strokes: the horizontal stroke of the "T."

C. Curved strokes:for the most part, these are named after the letter formed from them: a "c-stroke," an "s-stroke," etc. (or one can speak of "circles," "arc," "ovals," "ellipses," etc.).

Bow (lobe): a circle appended to a stem (as in "p," "b," "q," or "d").

Limb: the curved stroke of an "h."Cusp: where two curved lines meet.

D. Other aspects:Shading: the presence of differing thicknesses of stroke.

Slant: the degree of variation from the true vertical.

Serif: a decorative, finishing flourish on a stroke. Scripts (and typefaces) can beclassified as "serif" or "sans serif" according to the presence or absence of serifs.

Ligature: a line joining two characters (a bar crossing a pair of els, for instance).

Digraph: a character created by joining two others representing a single sound (forinstance, , the aesh).

Biting: when two adjoining and contrary curves (a "b" followed by an "o," for instance)overlap or share a stroke. Biting is a characteristic of Gothic and Humanistic scripts.

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The following is a consise and useful clarification of some of the basic terminology in

the study of handwriting. It comes from M. B. Parkes, "A Note on PalaeographicalTerms,"English Cursive Book Hands, 1250-1500, Oxford Palaeographical Handbooks

(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. xxvi.

"Ascriptis the model which the scribe has in his mind's eye when he writes, whereasa handis what he actually puts down on the page. The ductof a hand is the distinctivemanner in which strokes are traced upon the writing surface: it represents the

combination of such factors as the angle at which the pen was held in relation to the wayin which it was cut, the degree of pressure applied to it, and the direction in which it was

moved. Astrokeis a single trace made by the pen on the page; if the stroke has no

sudden change of direction, it is made in a single movement. A broken strokeis made inmore than one movement, the direction of the pen being changed suddenly without its

being lifted from the page. A minim strokeis the shortest and simplest stroke: that usedto form the letters i, m, n, u. An otiose strokeis a superfluous stroke, one which does not

form part of a letter, and which does not indicate an abbreviation.Bitingoccurs whentwo adjacent contrary curved strokes coalesce, as when bis closely followed by o. The

terms used when describing letter forms are best elucidated by examples: theletter bcomprises astemor mainstroke which rises above the general level of the other

letters (ascender) and a lobemade with a curved stroke to the right of the stem; the

letter pa descenderand a lobe; the letter han ascender and a limb; the letter tashaftand

a headstroke. The bodyof a letter form is that part which does not include an ascender ordescender."