Hand: Main Hand, CCCO 279, pt. ii

Name

Main Hand

Manuscript

CCCO 279, pt. ii

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

DigiPal Scribe 53. Saec. xi in.

Date

Saec. xi in.

Place

Unknown

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

Written with a relatively flat pen, this hand is not especially heavy but does have some shading. The aspect is somewhat rounded and not particularly disciplined. Ascenders are slightly longer than minims and have wedges which can be forked. Descenders are tapered, often short, and turn left, and can also bulge slightly to the right. Minims are somewhat rounded with thin approach-strokes and horizontal feet. An essentially teardrop-shaped a was used throughout, the back of which can descend below the bowl and occasionally extends slightly above it. A similar structure was used for æ, although the a-component can be more quadrilateral; the loop of the e-component sits high on the shoulder and rises slightly above cue-height, sometimes only slightly and sometimes in a tall loop. The eye of e is similar to that of æ, the back is more upright and horned, and the tongues of æ and e are normally angled up slightly but bend to the horizontal as they pass the hook. Round c is found throughout. The back of d varies in length but is angled at about 30–45° and turns up at the tip. The tongue of f is thin, flat, long, and on the base-line, and the hook can branch from close to the base-line. The mid-section of g is relatively angular, extending diagonally to the left and then turning sharply right, but it then forms a round and nearly closed loop which can itself hang somewhat on the left of centre. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are normally quite rounded; the foot of r is long and horizontal, and the shoulder can branch from the base-line. Low, long and round s are all found; long before p, t, and wynn, and sometimes initially, round usually initially, finally, and when doubled, but not uncommonly before t, and low infrequently and almost never finally. Round s sometimes extends above cue-height and is occasinally tall when final (stafaS, 105r1; huS, iS, 122v1 and 122v2) The conventional distinction between þ and ð was followed; the back of the latter is long, angled at about 60° and vertical-tipped, and the cross-stroke is low, flat, and hooked up at the left and down at the right. Three strokes were used for x, the upper two branches being turned down, the south-east stroke turning up, and the south-west extending in a thin tail and turned down at the tip. Straight-limbed and round y are found, neither dotted, and the round form being far more common; the left fork of straight y is thick and turned slightly left, the second stroke is hooked left at the top and right at the bottom, and round y is approximately bilinear. The top of 7 is long and slightly concave up, sometimes with an upward hook at the left, and a slightly wavy desscender which turns left at the tip. Latin is not distinguished by script.