11-09-2017, 07:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-09-2017, 08:39 PM by -JKP-.
Edit Reason: Added picture and more clarification in the text.
)
I really don't have much doubt that the shape is based the Latin abbreviation symbol historically associated with the number 9 (in Latin text written in Carolingian script, and later in proto-Gothic and Gothic scripts, most of these abbreviations are based on numbers, especially 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9).
They used 9 so it wouldn't be confused with the letter "g" and if you look at medieval text, you can see there are always slight differences between the abbreviation-9 and the way the g is written, a difference that is also evident in the VMS. G is not typically written this way, it has a serif on the top-right and in the less-common instances when it doesn't, it usually has a squared-off tail compared to an arced tail—for the same reason, to distinguish it from a 9.
Whoever added the Catalan?/Occitan? month labels to the zodiacs used this abbreviation symbol several times at the ends of the month names to represent -us. It was one of the most common abbreviations in all scribal-dom at the time.
As for paleographic evidence, besides the fact that it lacks a serif and has the wrong shape for the tail, there are several places in the VMS where the scribe wrote it superscripted (probably out of habit). In the earlier centuries it was usually superscripted. In the 15th century, some scribes wrote it superscripted and others wrote it inline and some wrote it both ways, but it meant the same thing.
Notice in this example how the scribe usually writes it inline, but occasionally writes it slightly above the line (in many manuscripts it is placed much higher). Notice also how the number 2 is used in a similar way (most of the time 9 means con- com- -us -um and 2 usually means -ur or -tur).
They used 9 so it wouldn't be confused with the letter "g" and if you look at medieval text, you can see there are always slight differences between the abbreviation-9 and the way the g is written, a difference that is also evident in the VMS. G is not typically written this way, it has a serif on the top-right and in the less-common instances when it doesn't, it usually has a squared-off tail compared to an arced tail—for the same reason, to distinguish it from a 9.
Whoever added the Catalan?/Occitan? month labels to the zodiacs used this abbreviation symbol several times at the ends of the month names to represent -us. It was one of the most common abbreviations in all scribal-dom at the time.
As for paleographic evidence, besides the fact that it lacks a serif and has the wrong shape for the tail, there are several places in the VMS where the scribe wrote it superscripted (probably out of habit). In the earlier centuries it was usually superscripted. In the 15th century, some scribes wrote it superscripted and others wrote it inline and some wrote it both ways, but it meant the same thing.
Notice in this example how the scribe usually writes it inline, but occasionally writes it slightly above the line (in many manuscripts it is placed much higher). Notice also how the number 2 is used in a similar way (most of the time 9 means con- com- -us -um and 2 usually means -ur or -tur).
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