VMs: Capricorn and shorthand...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

EVA 'm' bears a close resemblance to the well-known modern glyph for 
Capricorn (as well as to one of the Tironian notae... but I believe that 
the latter had been long forgotten by the time of the VMS).

AFAIK the hazy origins of Capricorn (and the other modern zodiac glyphs) 
haven't been definitively tracked down - I spent some time researching 
these at the beginning of the year, but didn't quite get as far as I hoped. :-(

Could it be, not just in the VMS' alphabet but also in the shorthand 
alphabet it [probably] ultimately derived from, that EVA 'm' codes for 'x', 
and that ultimately Capricorn's glyph derived from that?

In support, may I simply point out that Capricorn is (for zodiacs starting 
with Aries) the *tenth sign*. :-)

So: when we look at Capricorn's modern glyph, perhaps what we're actually 
seeing is a visual fossil of the lost shorthand language GC and I are 
trying to reach out towards... :-)

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....