Hand: Farm-goods (167v1–5), Pembroke 88

Name
Farm-goods (167v1–5)
Manuscript
Pembroke 88
Script
Unspecified
Scribe
Unspecified
Date
Saec. xi
Place
CaA

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

These notes were written in a rather irregular hand. The strokes are quite rounded, but the letters are relatively narrow. The aspect almost has the curved pointedness of the early tenth century, but the letter-forms suggest a later date. The first line was probably written by the same scribe but with a different pen: the script is smaller and the ink lighter, but the letter-forms are identical. Ascenders are slightly longer than minims and have small wedges, and descenders are also long and are straight. Minims have horizontal feet and either wedges or backward-reaching approach-strokes. Both single-compartment and Caroline a were used, the former having a pointed top, the latter a large head extending above cue-height, and the backs of both are angled at about 60°. The a-component of æ is quite rounded, the tongue is horizontal and fairly high, and the eye is small and within cue-height. Round c and e are found, and the tongue and eye of e are much like those of æ. The back of d is angled at about 60° or more and turns up or slightly right at the tip. The tongue of f is short and the hook deeply split. The top of g is more or less flat, the mid-section hangs from the centre, bulges out slightly to the left, then extends approximately horizontally to the right, and the tail curves around and extends approximately horizontally to the left before hooking up at the tip. The shoulders of h, m, and n are all quite rounded and branch from below cue-height; a similar but narrower form was used for r, the down-stroke of which stops at the base-line. Only low s is found, although in one case the top of the letter is slightly above cue-height and the hook reaches over the following letter. Only one occurrence of ð is found, and two of þ: wurðra, oþar, and forþra. The form of ð is the same as d, and the through-stroke is straight, fairly high, and thickens slightly at the tip. The upper branches of x turn down at the tips, the lower branches turn up, and the lower left branch extends somewhat below the base-line. An unusual form of y is found: the limbs are straight and hooked down at the tips, but the letter is bilinear and lacks a tail so that the result is exactly like our modern v. The top of 7 is rising and hooked up at the left, and the down-stroke is more or less vertical. The last two words of the text, æcera asawen, are badly faded and were copied below by a later scribe with a more angular hand. Letter-forms are much the same except that r has a full descender, a can be teardrop-shaped or have a straight top angled at about 30°, and s is tall, standing firmly on the base-line.

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