The Origin of [sh]

[-JKP-]

I should have been more clear when I said the shapes are all over the place (but the attachment points seem very deliberate).


When I said the shapes are all over the place, I meant within each kind of macron. For example, the "cap" style can be drawn many different ways and still has the same general interpretation. The "9" style of macron can also be drawn many different ways and still mean the same thing.

But... what I wasn't clear about (I hope the illustration above helps show this)... there are several forms of macron and they are pretty much all represented in the VMS, and not only on EVA-sh, they are associated  with other glyphs as well. For example, there are straight macrons over some of the 4o characters. I'll add another diagram to this post in a few minutes...

Okay, here's a quick rearrangement that shows the different kinds of macrons illustrated by the above clips. This might make it easier to see what is a pen variation and what is a meaningful variation:



I don't know what the shapes signify in the VMS, but they are common abbreviation symbols in Latin-language manuscripts.