9. Why are there lines over the top of letters in lines 1, 4 and 6?
These are abbreviation marks. | |
These particular ones stand for common terms, especially
nomina sacra,
‘sacred names’: the names of Christ, God, and the Lord. | |
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XPS stands for Christus. As a sacred name it is treated with reverence and made the occasion for calligraphic display in works like the Lindisfarne Gospels. |
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The X is a representation of the Greek chi, transliterated in Latin as ch, |
![]() | the P of the Greek rho transliterated in Latin as r. |
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DS stands for Deus meaning ‘God’. |
The last letter in the abbreviation shows the Latin
case ending: so DS stands for deus, ‘God’ in the nominative (subject) case, and DM for deum, ‘God’ in the accusative. | |
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The other common ‘sacred name’ abbreviation is DNS for dominus, ‘Lord’. |
Other forms of abbreviation are contractions: | |
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here FF stands for fratres, ‘brothers’. |
and suspensions. | |
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A straight line over the top of a letter usually indicates omission of an
n or m: here NO with a line over the top stands for non, ‘not’. |
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The q followed by a mid-line dot here stands for que,
the Latin for ‘and’ when attached to the end of a word. |
How would you now transcribe these lines, expanding the abbreviations?
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