Palaeography

Palaeography studies historical handwriting, tracing how scripts developed and using letter forms and other features to interpret and date written documents.

Letterform: The shape and design of a written character. Changes in letter shapes provide evidence for identifying a script and estimating when it was written.
Writing system: A set of signs and conventions used to represent language in writing. Palaeography examines how writing systems take visible form and change across time.
Jean Mabillon: A French Benedictine scholar whose 1681 work helped establish the critical study of medieval documents. His methods made handwriting and document forms evidence for assessing historical records.
Manuscript studies: The interdisciplinary study of handwritten books and their production, transmission, and use. Palaeography supplies manuscript studies with evidence about scribes, dates, and textual transmission.
Ductus: The sequence, direction, and order of strokes used to form a written character. Stroke order and direction can distinguish hands or script traditions with similar-looking letters.
Manuscript: A document written by hand rather than produced through ordinary printing. Manuscripts preserve the handwriting that palaeographical analysis studies.
Bernard de Montfaucon: A French Benedictine scholar who published a foundational study of ancient Greek palaeography in 1708. His work helped define the study of Greek handwriting as a distinct scholarly field.
Textual criticism: The analysis of textual witnesses to establish or reconstruct the wording of a work. Identifying scripts and scribal practices helps assess how manuscript readings arose.
Scribal abbreviation: A shortened written form used by scribes to save space or effort. Recognizing abbreviations helps palaeographers expand and interpret compressed manuscript writing.
Papyrus: A writing material made from the pith of the papyrus plant, used especially in the ancient Mediterranean. Its sheets and surviving documents provide early evidence for historical hands and scripts.

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