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+--- Thread: On the evolution of bench gallows (/thread-6237.html)
On the evolution of bench gallows - npcompl33t - 22-10-2026
This thread is a sibling to the one about P/F's evolution, but this one is focused specifically around Bench gallows.
Looking at bench gallows use across the manuscript arranged in my proposed chronological order shows some striking patterns. You can view this yourself You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(scroll down to see the graphs by page).
This chart shows the per 10k occurrences of ckh (first set of bars) and cth (second set of bars) across the manuscript, in chronological order.
I've annotated the chart to show the interesting features. First, note the void in section 1b. This occurs in the 18:23 bifolio. The first page of the bifolio, 18r, has above average cth compared to all prior usage. But this plummets on the two interior pages and the final page.
If we look at 18r, it seems the scribe was really struggling with the bench gallows forms. Look how many 'mistake' or 'aberrant' bench gallows are on this page.
Did the scribe just get frustrated and abandon bench gallows entirely for the rest of the bifolio? The first page on the next bifolio (f44r), cth is also is absent, although the following page You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. contains the most cth occurrences in the entire MS.
The 2nd drop in pharma, also occurs mid bifolio. This one is a fold out, 87:90. There is a substantial drop from 87v to 90r, that persists throughout the remainder of the manuscript. This change is not subtle or gradual, it happens all at once, and persists. Ckh does not appear to be affected like cTh.
Looking at 87v, we can again see several apparent issues the scribe had writing the bench gallows, even more than in 18r. It seems they were consistently having trouble with the h glyph, with many missing or showing signs of corrections. Several sh's look abnormal as well, like the scribe may have started to use a bench gallows but then stopped and tried to correct it into an sh.
It seems extremely odd that cTh would experience such a sharp decline, mid bifolio, that persists over all subsequent pages. Did the scribe end up deciding that cTh simply was too much trouble?
both pages immediately after the cTh decline (18v and 90r), show substantial increases in q words. Both are the top 2 pages by number of q uses in the entire Currier A portion of the MS. The fact this occurs after both declines would seem to indicate the Q words are directly replacing the cth words.
Whats more, it appears to specifically be qok, NOT qot words that are elevated.
This strongly seems to suggest that cTh -> qok. I have not looked to see if word forms are comprehensively preserved. cthy for instance is one of the common cth forms that disappears from 18r->18v, and qoky does indeed appear in 18v. But other qok word appear that do not seem to have any cth equivalent, like qokchy, which is predominantly an A word, and possibly what evolves into qokedy if my previous hypothesis that chy->edy.
Much like the P/F discussion, this i think raises important questions about bench gallows, whether they can be expressed in other combinations of glyphs, and what forms replace them. Like P/F, there does not appear to be a consistent rule, which i think is troubling and supports different forms undergoing different mutations.