An attempt at extracting grammar from vord order statistics.

[MarcoP]

It’s probably worth remembering that the goal of abbreviation isn’t necessarily speeding up the writing process by reducing the number of strokes: it could simply be shortening words so that more text could fit in a limited space. This sometimes caused abbreviations to cluster near the end of lines.

   

For instance, the end-of-line abbreviated “formam” in Vat.Lat.410 originated from rotating the final ‘m’ by 90 degrees (though here the shape has evolved into something looking like 3), so that vertical space is used instead of horizontal space. The difference in horizontal space is minimal, but it was enough for this scribe to prefer the abbreviated form at the end of lines.