In all but the first case (Tironian note) you can move the mouse pointer over the image to illustrate the contraction or suspension.
| et (and) |  |
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This symbol represents the conjunction et (and); its origin is in the Tironian notes used at an earlier time as a form of shorthand; this is the only symbol to survive from those notes; it is called the tironian et; by the thirteenth century, it had a horizontal stroke through the descender or tail, but in the twelfth century it was constructed without this horizontal stroke so that it resembles then a number 7; it is also used [see below] finally in words to represent -et | |
| minims omitted by a horizontal line |
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Left: Om[n]ib[us] Annuati[m]: in this case the contraction represents the 3 minims in final -m | |
| horizontal line as a general contraction |
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Left: u[est]ra. Right: in Joh[ann]i and B[eat]e; another example is forms of h[ab]ere | |
| horizontal line as a medial -er- contraction when formed through the ascender of h or b |
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for example here in lib[er]e; it is used on h in forms of h[er]es | ||
| per/par (for per alone, or initially and medially in words) |
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Left: super The upper example here is p[ar]te The lower example is per, a preposition with the acc. | |
| pre- (initially in words) |
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here in p[re]sentes | ||
| pro |
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this contraction usually stands alone in pro (for: preposition + abl.) Left: in the twelfth century it is simply a horizontal stroke with a loop on the left. | |
| -bus (finally in words: abl. and dat. cases) |
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resembles a b with an attached z with a tail | ||
| -et (finally in words, as in 3rd.pers.sing.verb forms) and in conjunctions such as scilicet and videlicet |
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here in p[er]tin[et] (3rd.pers.sing.verb form) and scil[ic][et] | ||
| medial -er- |
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Left: fu[er]it; right t[er]ram | |
| final -que |
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resembles a q with an attached z with a tail | ||
| final -rum |
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The origin of this is as a general suspension on the character r in the Arabic 2-r form, so that it meant any suspension of a word on the r; an example would be Sar' by which was intended something like Sarisberiensis ; conventionally, however, it came to represent -rum, most usually at the end of the genitive plural form of nouns: here st[er]lingor[um] | ||
| general suspension |
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a general suspension might be represented by a horizontal line over the main part of the word OR a flourish above the line on the final character; here the example is the flourish on the final r, here in denar[ios] (demonstrably accusative plural in the document) | ||
| superscription |
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The omission of a character is sometimes represented by the following character being placed superscript; most usually, but not exclusively, the omitted character is an r; the example here is ac[r]as, in which the superscript a represents the omission of the r; occasionally, however, superscription is otiose, that is there is no previous character omitted | ||
| initial con- |
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initial con- (as here in confirmaui) is frequently reduced to this contracted form, although it is also sometimes fully extended, from the twelfth century onwards; the contraction resembles a number 9 on the same horizontal level as the other characters; a similar contraction was used for final -us (see below), but above the line | final -us |
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final -us occurred most frequently in the 1st.pers.pl.form
of verbs, such as here [bottom]Warantizabim[us], but
it can be more generally used as here [top] in san[us]; Left: Walter[us] In the twelfth century it is also encountered as one form of the contraction for final -bus. |
| -ur- |
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-ur- is represented by a superscript arabic 2-r; it can be
used medially (here [top] as in Fut[ur]i) or finally (in the case of passive forms
of verb, esp. the 3rd.pers.sing.passive) as here [bottom] includitur [in
which the 2-r has a small tail] In the twelfth century, it resembles a superscript a with a tail. |