Re: VMs: MS408 Character Development

["Maurizio M. Gavioli" <mmg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 00:52 30-06-05, Dennis wrote:

> Maurizio M. Gavioli wrote:
> > This 'two-levels articulation' (if the term is allowed outside of 
> > linguistics) 'strokes into characters' and 'characters into script' is 
> > highly characteristic of the _littera moderna_ (aka 'gothic writing' in 
> > South Europe and probably 'black letters' in North Europe), i.e. the 
> > writing which developed during XI-XII c. mainly in University 
> > environments (Bologna, Paris, etc.) building on Irish-Briton -- on one 
> > side-- and possibly Beneventan -- on the other side-- earlier developments.
> > Making characters out of combinations of a very small repertory of 
> > strokes is explicitly theorized by the later 'writing masters' (XIV-XV 
> > c., but theory always comes after!) as a way to ease writing learning and 
> > practicing. According to the 'common tradition' of the early-Renaissance 
> > writing masters, the _littera moderna_ can be written combining  only 
> > three basic strokes (and some modifications of them).
>
>         I'm glad you brought this up!  D'Imperio noted how most of the 
> characters may be formed from just /i/ and /e/ strokes.  She did not seem 
> to be aware that this was a common practice.  So it was something that 
> the inventor(s) of Voynich script must have made use of.
>
>         Since you are here:  what do you have to say about the relation 
> of 'humanist hand' to the Voynich script?

Oh well... First of all, let me say that it is true I hold a degree in 
Latin Palaeography, but it dates from 32 years now and since 25 years I 
work in a completely different field, so my handling of the matter is rusty 
to say the least.

That said, I would hesitate to put the Voynich script in relation with the 
'humanist hand', which I prefer to call with the name its inventors gave 
it: _littera antiqua_; at least with the _litterae antiquae_ I know (or 
*knew*) better, i.e. the Florentine-Roman and the Veronese (for instance, 
Poggio Bracciolini and Giorgio Valla).

And this because the Voynich script lacks precisely the basic 
characteristic of the humanist writing reform, i.e. the individualization 
of each character, which has been explicitly theorized and opposed to the 
stroke assimilation of the _littera moderna_ by the first 'reformers', like 
Niccolò Niccoli or Vespasiano da Bisticci.

Neither the relatively low 'writing angle' or the roundish overall aspect 
of the Voynich script are unheard of in the _littera moderna_ world, which 
even sported a style openly called _littera rotunda_.

However, I would not go as far as saying that the Voynich script *derives* 
from the _littera moderna_, but I believe reasonable to maintain that the 
creator of the script was highly familiar with it and in particular with 
the most cursive variants; these were widely used all over Europe for mss 
not intended (or not *primarily* intended) for circulation, like notarial 
notes, private notes, accounting, diaries and the like and, once formalized 
and stylized again, gave ultimately origin to the _litterae bastardae_ (to 
which 'family' the German Fraktur also belongs).

I am sorry that I can provide little solid evidence for that, beyond the 
mere assimilation of the strokes, but I am confident a *true* palaeographer 
could find more.

Lastly, a link with the _littera moderna_ tradition is consistent with the 
generally accepted time and place frame for its origin: by the XV c. Italy 
has completely abandoned the _littera moderna_ for the _littera antiqua_ 
and only in the Northern Europe that tradition was still alive. Of course, 
Northern Europe is a fairly generic concept...

Ciao,

        Maurizio


 Maurizio M. Gavioli -  VistaMare  Software
 via San Bernardo 5, I-16030 Pieve Ligure, ITALY
 http://www.vistamaresoft.com/

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