VMs: RE: Determining the writing speed...?

["Mike Stannett" <m.stannett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hiya.

Nick Pelling wrote:
-------------------
Can we prove that the VMs was copied from a pre-existing text (say,
written
on a wax tablet), rather than being written while being encoded by the
same
person? [END OF QUOTE]

I've left my photocopies at home, so no precise details I'm afraid.
However, I've noticed that some of the gallows characters suggest (to
my admittedly untrained eye) that parts of the manuscript are
definitely copied from an original. It looks in places like the scribe
has drawn the left hand vertical, then the top horizontal with both of
its loops, and is on his way back down again, when he seems to have
forgotten which character it is he's writing. Consequently, there's a
small glitch in the character, suggesting he's looked away from the MS
to consult the master copy, and has then continued with the remainder
of the character.

As well as suggesting that the extant version is copied from an
original, this also suggests that the scribe may not have understood
that characters he was writing. It's rather like us having to consult
an original to decide if a letter is a "b" or a "d". For users of our
alphabet this is fairly easily remembered, but for non-users the
characters may be perceived simply as shapes, hence more tricky to
retain in short-term memory.

Best wishes, Mike
------------------------------------------
Sheffield University Computer Science Dept
Regent Court, 211 Portobello Street
Sheffield S1 4DP, United Kingdom
FAX: ++44 (0)114 222-1810

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