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Liturgical Manuscripts and How to Study Them

Manuscript Terminology and Scribal Practices

  • Manuscript comes from "hand-written" (manu like manos; script...)
  • Manuscript is a written text on a medium that can be transported (as opposed to an inscription on a wall)
  • Mediums:
    • Papyrus

      image-1642765307061.png

    • Parchment

      image-1642765319480.png

    • Paper

      image-1642765341011.png

      • Oriental/Arabic Paper
      • European Paper
      • Modern Paper
    • Ostracon
      • Pottery shard
      • Limestone Fragment
    • Wood Plate
  • Paper Medium typically is bound
    • Stitched Quires
    • Signatures
    • Leather Binding
  • Formats
    • Codex
      • Folio (single sheet)
      • Bifolium (two folio)
      • Page (single side of a bifolium)

        image-1642765112882.png

      • Quire (bifolia and folios symmetrically arranged)

        image-1642765134710.png

    • Scroll
    • Folded Sheet (usually magical texts)
    • Quire
  • Size: Helps us determine what it was used for
    • Large (Lectern size)
    • Medium (Monastic use, used by multiple people at once)
    • Small (Private use - monk, priest, layman)
  • Layout
    • 1 Column (Coptic or Arabic)

      image-1642765195637.png

    • 2 Column (Usually Coptic AND Arabic)

      image-1642765209972.png

    • Multi-column (Rare)

      image-1642765223952.png

    • Pricking
    • Ruling
  • Numbering
    • Epact

      (see fourth column)
      image-1642765401363.png

    • Coptic
    • Arabic
    • Foreign
    • None
  • Ordering
    • Page (very old manuscripts... page 2, 4, 6, etc.)
    • Folio
    • Quire
  • Binding
    • Leather
    • Embossing
  • Dating Conventions
    • Indiction (15-year cycles)
    • Era of the Martyrs
    • Hegirae
    • Modern
  • Scribal Practices
    • Script (Coptic, Arabic Naskh with diacritical markings, Pointing)
    • Table of Contents (less common in Liturgical Manuscripts)

      image-1642766010774.png

    • Name of the Scribe, Sponsor, Endower
      • If he wrote many manuscripts, he's likely a trusted source
      • What was his career?
      • When did he live?
      • Etc.
    • Illustrator
    • Codex Genealogy

      image-1642766105127.png

      • This was copied from xyz manuscript that was dated as abc...
  • Colophon, Endowment

    image-1642766186511.png

     
    • Usually at the end
    • Details of the publication
  • Illuminations
    • Miniatures (icons)

      image-1642766218324.png

      image-1642766232733.png

       

    • Head pieces (at the beginning of a specific part of the MS)

      image-1642766258065.png

    • Large Capitals (first letter of a prayer or psali - sometimes running from top to bottom of the page - e.g. alpha that looks like an eagle)
    • Small Capitals (usually at the start of a new paragraph - especially Fayoum MSS)
    • Marginals
      image-1642766299918.png
  • Marginalia
    • Inserts
    • Decorations
    • Corrections

Manuscript Descriptions

Classifications of Liturgical Manuscripts

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