Re: VMs: Split gallows

["Jan" <hurychj@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Jorge,  

 You wrote: =======
>Thus, to me it seems equally likely (at least) that a split gallows
>stands for two copies of the same gallows, one at each leg. I can
>imagine a scribe feeling proud of his ability to draw a the right 
>half of the split "k" in advance, landing precisely where it ought to
>be, then filling in the intervening letters. Or, more simply, writing
>the first "k" as a left leg only, and the second "k" as a right leg
>connected to the same.

Well, you are probably right. Out of five examples I mentioned, we would then read it like this (all in 
EVA):

folio 	first occurence	     second occurence       note 
f56r     t                          t                                 in 2 words
f30v     cth                      cth                             1 word
f35r      cth                      cth                             2, maybe 3 words
f100v    cth                      cth                             1 word
f100r     cth                     one leg without "ch"    1, maybe 2 words

In  the last folio,  the character was started as cth, but ended as ch. Since that does not 
support your theory,  did authorm make the mistake or was there an  intent? Well, occurencies of split gallows are only few to confuse the solving of the VM,  but on the other hand, if gallows have different functions  than the "non-gallows"  characters,  it may be interesting to study them further, to reveal their purpose
 >
>Moreover, from analyzing the frequency of EVA "e" after various
>gallows, I suspect that there are two kinds of EVA "p" characters,
>distinguished by the presence of a hook at the final end of the second
>stroke. My guess is that the hook stands for an "e" FOLLOWING the "p" --
>which it does indeed dynamically, even though it precedes the "p"
>visually. Ditto for "f"s. Of course this is only a suspicion...

It may be so, but some hooks are rather small and seen only when magnified - it seems that they were 
created by rather abrupt stopping of the pen. However for others, they are quite visible, even exaggerated (see f 100r, actually in the split gallows) so they were made quite visible to signify some  difference.  It may be on the other hand just the bad habit of the autor  who otherwise, in other 
communications, used the connected script. We may suspect thatt much, judging by the othewise rather "smooth" characters, conneting bars and even those horizontally extended loops. 
>
>By the way, if the VMs is a "dumb copy", the copist may have assumed
>that the hooks were mere decoration -- just as all modern transcibers
>have assumed so far -- and thus he may have added or removed hooks 
>in many places...

True, but we would probably see the other mistakes, too. Well, is the VM just a copy?    The new scans should give us the definite answer, because I doubt that the other copy - or original  - will be ever found. 

>
>In fact, it has been observed many times that "p" and "f" gallows only
>seem to sprout where there is space above the line. Thus there is also
>the suspicion that they are alternative forms of "k" and "t", perhaps
>combined with "e" or "ch" or something else; or something even more
>bizarre.

Right. Gallows have also other distinction: in comparison with the other characters they are not only 
higher but also more complicated  - if we do not consider other combinations such as ch, sh, iin and 
so on.
Still, EVA assigned simple gallows one-letter tag only, based on the fact it was believed that¨'s exactly 
what they  are. However, some of them do look like combinations of "q" ( "4") and something else  -  
see Frogguy assignment.  On the other hand, EVA's q has sharp corner ( in reality it is not that sharp) 
an t dedinitely does not - again, was it the habit of writer or was the difference quite intentional?

regards,
Jan
>
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Best regards.				 
Jan
 Our mail is always sent without attachments.
 http://hurontaria.baf.cz/enigma/ Enigma, nas novy casopis zahad


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