Scribal devices
Medieval scribes used several devices which are no longer current. In our manuscripts we found:
Hyphens
When he came to the end of a line, a scribe might add a short line somewhat like a modern hyphen. Sometimes this ‘hyphen’ would have two lines, rather like a modern equals sign. Both signs would tend to rise from the left to the right.
Both these ‘hyphen’ signs are marked up with the <hyphen>
element. The difference between
them is conveyed by the rend
attribute:
<hyphen />
<hyphen rend="double" />
From a modern perspective, hyphens can be used as we might, i.e. where a word is divided over two
lines. For example, the word brenhin
might appear as:
... bren-
hin ...
Such an example would be marked up as:
... bren<hyphen />
hin...
But hyphens can also be used ‘incorrectly’, i.e. where a word is complete on one line a nd not divided over two lines. We might have, for example:
... brenhin-
The function of the ‘hyphen’ in such cases is signalled by the status
attribute, e.g.
<w>brenhin<hyphen status="incorrect" /></w>
Fillers
Medieval scribes might fill an empty space at the end of a line with fillers: an assortment of various
dashes and shapes. These are denoted by <filler />
.
The rend
attribute marks up the type of the filler, its colour and rubrication, e.g.
typecolour rubric
Paragraph marks
<paragraphmark />
This tag is used to show ‘word dividers’ or ‘divider lines’.
Examples:
<paragraphmark rend="red"/>
<paragraphmark rend="rubric"/>
Insertion marks
Sometimes when a scribe realised that he had forgotten to write something he would indicate the beginning of the missing text with an insertion mark.
An insertion mark is encoded by the <insertionmark />
element.
The form of the mark is defined by the rend
attribute, e.g.
<insertionmark rend="cross" />
