# 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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765307061.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765307061.png)
    - Parchment [![image-1642765319480.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765319480.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765319480.png)
    - Paper [![image-1642765341011.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765341011.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765112882.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765112882.png)
        - Quire (bifolia and folios symmetrically arranged) [![image-1642765134710.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765134710.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765195637.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765195637.png)
    - 2 Column (Usually Coptic AND Arabic) [![image-1642765209972.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765209972.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765209972.png)
    - Multi-column (Rare) [![image-1642765223952.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765223952.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642765223952.png)
    - Pricking
    - Ruling
- Numbering 
    - Epact  
        (see fourth column)  
        [![image-1642765401363.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642765401363.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766010774.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766105127.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642766105127.png)
        
        
        - This was copied from xyz manuscript that was dated as abc...
- Colophon, Endowment [![image-1642766186511.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766186511.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642766186511.png)
    
    
    - Usually at the end
    - Details of the publication
- Illuminations 
    - Miniatures (icons) [![image-1642766218324.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766218324.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642766218324.png)
        
        [![image-1642766232733.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766232733.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642766232733.png)
    - Head pieces (at the beginning of a specific part of the MS) [![image-1642766258065.png](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766258065.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/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](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/scaled-1680-/image-1642766299918.png)](https://notes.morcous.com/uploads/images/gallery/2022-01/image-1642766299918.png)
- Marginalia 
    - Inserts
    - Decorations
    - Corrections

#### Manuscript Descriptions

#### Classifications of Liturgical Manuscripts

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