abbreviation
A shortened representation of a word or phrase, that may include symbols as well as alphabetic characters.
allograph
A distinct form of an alphabetic letter or symbol in writing. In Irish manuscripts, it is common to see more than one allograph of a letter on the same page.
ascender and descender
An ascender is part of an alphabetic character that rises above the main body of some letters, such as the vertical line that extends above the circular part of the letter b.
A descender is part of an alphabetic character that drops below the baseline of most of the other characters in a line of writing. An example is the long downward line of r and s in Irish script.
ascent and descent
The ascent is the area between the x height (or cue height) and the highest part of a character in a line of writing.
The descent is the area between the baseline and the lowest part of a character in a line of writing.
baseline
A long imaginary horizontal line, on which the majority of the miniscules rest. For example, in Irish writing, some of the letters that usually rest on this line include d, i, m, n and u.
ceann faoi eite
Literally head under wing, a symbol placed within a line of Irish writing to indicate that the sentence is completed and that the following words are a continuation of the line below. It was used to make efficient use of space on the vellum.
character
A written symbol that represents an alphabetic letter, word, phrase, or concept.
compendium
See #abbreviation
contraction
See #abbreviation
cue height
See x height
descender
diacritic
In Irish script, a mark above a character which indicates a change in its phonetic value. For example, a fada (slanted line) may indicate lengthening of the sound of a vowel.
digraph
A group of two letters written together. The form of one or both of them may differ in the digraph from the appearance of the independently written alphabetic character.
glyph
grapheme
A basic unit in the writing system of a (written) language. Like ‘character’, a ‘grapheme’ is an abstract term, but unlike ‘character’, it relates to the representation of phonemes. For instance, aoi represents one grapheme in modern Irish, but is composed of three different characters. Similarly, a character may be used for more than one grapheme.
letter
conceptually distinct from characters, graphemes and glyphs. A, a, a and a represent four different characters of the same letter.
ligature
A ligature consists of two or more letters and/or symbols joined together to form a single character.
majuscule
minim
A minim is a short vertical stroke with the pen. In Irish writing, the minims at the beginning of i, n, m, and u almost always have a serif at the top.
minuscule and majuscule
- A minuscule is a small alphabetic character; the majority of the text of a manuscript is made up of minuscule letters.
- A majuscule is a large alphabetic character, often used at the beginning of a sentence in Irish manuscripts.
nomina sacra
Latin for ‘sacred names’.
subscript
superscript and subscript
A superscript character is written above another character which is in the normal line of writing. Superscript characters are usually smaller.
A subscript character is written below another character which is in the normal line of writing. Subscript characters are usually smaller.
suspension stroke
A horizontal line above one or more characters, or at the end of a word. It indicates that some letters have not been written. The suspension stroke is used to abbreviate common words. An identical horizontal line is often used to indicate the letter n.
Tironian notes
A system of shorthand writing symbols attributed to Cicero's secretary Marcus Tullius Tiro, who lived in Rome in the 1st century BCE.
Unicode
x height
Malcolm B. Parkes and Peter A. Stokes use the term ‘cue-height’ as the palaeographical equivalent.
The distance from the baseline to a long imaginary horizontal line along the top of the majority of the minuscules in a line of writing. In Irish writing, some of the letters that are usually written within this distance include u, i, m, n and o.
