VMs: Re: Bruce's Gallows Summary Request...

[Bruce Grant <bgrant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Grove wrote:

>         Not an all inclusive summary of gallows -- feel free to add /modify this
> list as you see fit...

Nicely done summary, I thought.

Your comment about gallows characters with benches not starting lines makes me think
of a couple things I have noticed:

1.    In Cappelli there is a document (the foldout labeled "Tabula VI".) which
contains the bench character (ch) by itself in several places, and the transcription
clearly indicates that it corresponds to the Latin word "et" (and).

2.    I read somewhere the other day (possibly on this list) that the bench
character also means 'and' in Tironian shorthand.

This suggests that it might also represent 'and' in the VM, with the bench
superimposed on a gallows character according to the same logic that appends the
enclitic "-que" to the first word of a new clause in Latin with the meaning 'and'.
This would be consistent with it not starting lines (or at least paragraphs).

I have suggested this before on the list, and the objection has been raised that the
same character occurs in the middle of words. However, it might be being used to
represent the same word as a substring of a larger word, i.e. "et" or maybe "e" (as
in Italian) in that instance. Or perhaps it is being used for something completely
different, as when we write "send it 2 me" with no confusion.

Bruce