Examples of three very common abbreviation symbols.
All three of these shapes are included in the VMS and while they might mean something different, they are positioned in a way similar to Latin scribal abbreviations except for the fact that the curved macron in the VMS is associated mostly with EVA-ch (to create EVA-sh) and only occasionally is added to other characters (e.g., a few instances of 4o have curved macrons). In languages that use Latin abbreviations, the curved macron can be added to any word.
Note that the curved macron is used by many scribes in the same way as a vertical tilde (the "squiggle" abbreviation), probably because it's quicker to write it this way:
![[Image: ThreeMacrons.png]](https://voynichportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/ThreeMacrons.png)
Examples of straight and curved shapes that resemble macrons in the VMS:
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This is why I mentioned upthread that we really haven't defined what we mean by a set of character glyphs in the VMS. If you search for 4o with a curved macron in medieval manuscripts, it is hard to find them, and they are usually late 15th century. But if one accepts that macrons can go on any letter in languages that use Latin scribal conventions, and then surmise that VMS glyphs might be a combination of character shapes and abbreviation shapes, then there are many manuscripts that use this convention.
The Takahashi transcription (the most popular transcript) does not include these macron-shapes.
All three of these shapes are included in the VMS and while they might mean something different, they are positioned in a way similar to Latin scribal abbreviations except for the fact that the curved macron in the VMS is associated mostly with EVA-ch (to create EVA-sh) and only occasionally is added to other characters (e.g., a few instances of 4o have curved macrons). In languages that use Latin abbreviations, the curved macron can be added to any word.
Note that the curved macron is used by many scribes in the same way as a vertical tilde (the "squiggle" abbreviation), probably because it's quicker to write it this way:
Examples of straight and curved shapes that resemble macrons in the VMS:
-------
This is why I mentioned upthread that we really haven't defined what we mean by a set of character glyphs in the VMS. If you search for 4o with a curved macron in medieval manuscripts, it is hard to find them, and they are usually late 15th century. But if one accepts that macrons can go on any letter in languages that use Latin scribal conventions, and then surmise that VMS glyphs might be a combination of character shapes and abbreviation shapes, then there are many manuscripts that use this convention.
The Takahashi transcription (the most popular transcript) does not include these macron-shapes.
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