Great number of contractions in sixth and seventh centuries
In the sixth and seventh centuries a host of
contractions were in use in various scripts, and in many cases the same sign was capable of signifying
quite different words. Thus the letter s, with its
contracted use indicated by a horizontal stroke above or some other mark, stood for
si, sed, secundum, sunt,
and on occasion also
sanctus, scriptum, supra, senatus,
and so on; the letter n, with accompanying mark of
contraction, stood for
nam, non, nunc, and also
nos, nobis,
noster, nomen etc. So confusing a state of matters could not be allowed to last; and accordingly we find
the number gradually lessened by Carolingian and other scribes, and differentiating marks introduced to
distinguish, e.g.,
sed from
si, non from
nunc.
But, as may be imagined, this change in the use of contractions was a fertile source of errors in MSS.
When a scribe accustomed to one set of contractions had to copy a MS. in which a different set of contractions
was used, he would inevitably make many mistakes; and even in transcribing contractions with
which he was familiar he might, if the same sign were used in more than one sense, expand it now and then
in a wrong way. We have many instances in our minuscule MSS. of Plautus. The identity of the signs
ē for em and ē for
est
(also for
et) has caused
quid est in
Pseud. 1066, written quidē in the original of
CD, to be
wrongly copied by the scribe of
C as
quidem. The
identity of the signs [nmacr ] for
non and [nmacr ] for
nam has led to
nam being substituted for
non in
Pseud. 521,
non for
nam in
Pseud. 642. Especially the contractions of the
relative pronouns and adverbs varied in use from time to time. We find
quoniam, quom (cum, qum) and
quando confused over and over again in Plautus MSS.,
and similarly
qui, quid, quia etc. etc.
1
A contraction was often indicated by a suprascript
letter. Thus mi stood for
mihi, mo
for
modo, pi for the
syllable
pri, pa for the syllable
pra, and so on. And
the u of the relative and other words was often suprascript
in a more or less conventional form (cf.
ch. ii. § 7).
