Ever since I created my first transcript I have suspected that ch was a ligature. Whether it's a ligature in the meaning sense (two or more meaning units) or simply in the shape sense, I don't know.
There are a several places on the first folio where the c and h and sh are disconnected.
When I work my way through medieval manuscripts, I often notice that the calligraphy is slightly more careful on the first few folios and then becomes more connected (and sometimes more looped and sometimes slightly messier) as the script continues. This is very common when people start projects. Slow and careful at first and then when you get into the swing of it the process becomes more fluid. Or, the task becomes more boring and is done a little faster to get through it.
I noticed this same pattern in the VMS. The first page is different. It's not only the place where it is bound and the extra wear and the red weirdos and other signs (a possible Ex Lib) but also a number of disconnections in ligature-like letters (like eh).
I don't like piling too many assumptions on top of each other but, if we assume for the sake of discussion that ch is a ligature... then it's also important to note the instance of eph on folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that has a gap between the cp and the h. It's not as big as the gaps between tokens, so it's probably not a word-boundary and probably not a half-space, but it's unquestionably there.
But, there is a vertical chew-trail at exactly this spot that complicates the picture. Did the chew-trail create the space or simply cross it by coincidence? The chew-trail did take out the top of the p. But... if you look at eh two lines below, there is a shallower chew trail that doesn't appear to have damaged the surface as much, and it does look like the e and h are disconnected. So... if the gap in cp ho is a pen-gap, it suggests that benched gallows might also be ligatures.
This is only one example. I don't have time to peel out other examples. By itself, this wouldn't be enough evidence (especially considering the chew-trail), but there are quite a few places where other chars are attached to "gallows" chars, so there is some flexibility in the system. It doesn't always have to be ch. The benched gallows might be ligatures in more than one way.
The statistical behavior of these chars sometimes seems to speak in the opposite direction (that these are combination shapes representing one glyph rather than being ligatures), but is that because the shape variations are unmeaningful? Or is it because the research is mostly based on transcripts that don't record the variations?
I don't know the answer to this either. My "feeling" based on the way that the gallows and benched gallows are positioned with a certain amount of consistency within tokens is that gallows may NOT be ligatures in the meaning sense. It's quite possible to combine traditional ligatures simply to make a new shape that functions as a single unit. But maybe the benches that cross the gallows are ligatures—they are more varied than one would expect if they were merely part of the gallows, not only in terms of the shapes of the two parts, but in the way they are sometimes combined 3-at a time and sometimes with an extra character tucked UNDER the bench.
There are a several places on the first folio where the c and h and sh are disconnected.
When I work my way through medieval manuscripts, I often notice that the calligraphy is slightly more careful on the first few folios and then becomes more connected (and sometimes more looped and sometimes slightly messier) as the script continues. This is very common when people start projects. Slow and careful at first and then when you get into the swing of it the process becomes more fluid. Or, the task becomes more boring and is done a little faster to get through it.
I noticed this same pattern in the VMS. The first page is different. It's not only the place where it is bound and the extra wear and the red weirdos and other signs (a possible Ex Lib) but also a number of disconnections in ligature-like letters (like eh).
I don't like piling too many assumptions on top of each other but, if we assume for the sake of discussion that ch is a ligature... then it's also important to note the instance of eph on folio You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. that has a gap between the cp and the h. It's not as big as the gaps between tokens, so it's probably not a word-boundary and probably not a half-space, but it's unquestionably there.
But, there is a vertical chew-trail at exactly this spot that complicates the picture. Did the chew-trail create the space or simply cross it by coincidence? The chew-trail did take out the top of the p. But... if you look at eh two lines below, there is a shallower chew trail that doesn't appear to have damaged the surface as much, and it does look like the e and h are disconnected. So... if the gap in cp ho is a pen-gap, it suggests that benched gallows might also be ligatures.
This is only one example. I don't have time to peel out other examples. By itself, this wouldn't be enough evidence (especially considering the chew-trail), but there are quite a few places where other chars are attached to "gallows" chars, so there is some flexibility in the system. It doesn't always have to be ch. The benched gallows might be ligatures in more than one way.
The statistical behavior of these chars sometimes seems to speak in the opposite direction (that these are combination shapes representing one glyph rather than being ligatures), but is that because the shape variations are unmeaningful? Or is it because the research is mostly based on transcripts that don't record the variations?
I don't know the answer to this either. My "feeling" based on the way that the gallows and benched gallows are positioned with a certain amount of consistency within tokens is that gallows may NOT be ligatures in the meaning sense. It's quite possible to combine traditional ligatures simply to make a new shape that functions as a single unit. But maybe the benches that cross the gallows are ligatures—they are more varied than one would expect if they were merely part of the gallows, not only in terms of the shapes of the two parts, but in the way they are sometimes combined 3-at a time and sometimes with an extra character tucked UNDER the bench.