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[German version] A. General An abbreviation (Latin notae, sigla, siglae) consists of a semantic element -- the alphabetic lettering of the abbreviated word -- and a symbolic element, signs referring to the summarizing character of what is written. The use of abbreviations is justified for a number of practical reasons: first, because they make reading quikker and more accurate, and secondly, because they save time and space. In classical antiquity and, in a wider sense, right up to the late Middle Ages,…

[German version] Byzantine bookhand, developed in the 2nd half of the 10th cent., and perfected in its last decade. It is characterized by a combination of typically round letter-forms with more or less slanting ones.  The name PS refers to the stringing together of longer letter-groups, written in pearl form and joined up in a string-like manner [1]; particularly noticeable are the circular Ο and the round Υ. PS usually slants a little to the right and is written in a uniform manner; letters sometimes have the shape of a tub, the ductus is normally fluid and s…

[German version] I. Definition The concept of writing styles (WS) is used in Greek palaeography to classify certain frequently used and constantly recurring script types. The concept of style (or style levels or stylization level) also encompasses the various calligraphic levels of a hand. In Latin palaeography, however, WS are rarely talked of; instead, stylization or the type of a script are used to differentiate between book hands. Eleuteri, Paolo (Venice) II. Greek Writing Styles [German version] A. Classification Since the work of Turner [5], the following criteria a…

(Τζέτζης; Tzétzēs). [German version] [1] Isaac T. Byzantine scholar, c. AD 1110-1138 (Ἰσαὰκ Τ.; Isaàk T.). Byzantine scholar ( grammatikós, c. 1110-1138), older brother of Iohannes T. [2] and author of a treatise on Pindaric metre (Pind. Ol. 1-14, Pind. Pyth. 1; the title Περὶ τῶν πινδαρικῶν μέτρων/ Perì tôn pindarikôn métrōn is not authentic and only appears in a more recent MS). With the exception of ten introductory dodecasyllables, the work is written in what is known as 'political' verse (i.e. decapentasyllabic verse). After a general intro…

[German version] Manneristic style of writing Greek minuscules (also termed ‘Church Fathers' style’ because of the main texts in which it was used [1]) in the 10th cent. (913/4-983/4 on the dated examples), characterized in particular by buttonhole-shaped and knotty thickening of ascenders and in many of the small letters. The normally vertical and broadly executed script shows a strong tendency to bilinearism, with shortened ascenders and descenders; the round letters are given a squarish shape. …

[German version] In papyrology the definition of recto ( r.) and verso ( v.) has not always been straightforward and uncontroversial. R. normally refers to the side of the papyrus on which the fibres run horizontally, in other words the inner side of the papyrus scroll which is thought to have been inscribed first; it is also the side on which the glued overlap ( kóllēsis) is visible. V. describes the outer side on which the fibres run vertically and which was not intended for writing. More recent papyrus editions indicate the fibre direction with {{rarr}} for …