Scribal Profile Hand 4 | |
| Profiles for this Scribe: | |
| Current Manuscript: | London, British Library MS Harley 1239 |
| Folios: | 63-106v |
| Sampled Folios: | 91r |
| Example Page: | Display a full page showing this scribe's hand |
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| A | |||
 | Usage: bath the scribe uses secretary 'a' throughout mainly within words. He uses double compartment 'a' at the beginnings of words, where 'a' stands alone, and also in the rubric between tales. |  | Usage: awysyd double compartment 'a' for the beginning of a word within a line. Double compartment 'a' almost always used at the beginning of a line; there is one exception on f91. |
 | Usage: Bath use of double compartment 'a' in the rubric at the end of the Wife of Bath's Tale. |  | Usage: And upper case 'A' at the beginning of a line. |
| D | |||
 | Usage: olde the scribe's regular looped 'd'. |  | Usage: gud unlooped 'd' as it appears in the rubric. |
 | Usage: endyth a slightly different 'd' also in the rubric. |  | Usage: syde |
| G | |||
 | Usage: gou(er)aunce 'g' is double compartment. |  | Usage: God upper case 'G' with serrated left side. |
 | Usage: knyght an example of the 'gh' combination. |  | Usage: thyng 'g' with flourish at the end of a line. |
| H | |||
 | Usage: howse both lower and upper case 'h's appear to be the same. The limb is mainly straight, the stem leans forward slightly. |  | Usage: both 'th' combination. 'h' is usually crossed when it follows 't'. |
 | Usage: endyth the cross-stroke appears to begin at the shoulder. | ||
| R | |||
 | Usage: wroth long 'r' used most of the time in all positions. |  | Usage: force 'z'-shaped 'r' used only after 'o'. |
 | Usage: fayr 'r' with flourish at the end of a line. However, the scribe almost always includes a flourish on final 'r' whatever the position of the word. |  | Usage: hyr modern 'r' hardly ever appears on this folio. |
| S | |||
 | Usage: c(er)tes sigma 's' used in final position. |  | Usage: she long 's' used initially and in medial positions. |
 | Usage: Syn upper case 'S | ||
| W | |||
 | Usage: trew there is actually very little variation in the scribe's 'w' graph although versions 2 and 3 do show different formations. |  | Usage: betwyx a rare example of a slightly different formation following 't'. |
 | Usage: two another example of variation when 'w' follows the 't' graph. |  | Usage: wyfe although this letter does not appear to be an upper case 'W', the scribe forms the upper case letter in exactly the same way. |
| Y | |||
 | Usage: may the tail of 'y' varies for no apparent reason between this version with no reverse flick to that in version two. Most examples of 'y' have just a slight curve in the tail. |  | Usage: by |
 | Usage: wyfe 'y' in the rubric. | ||
| Thorn and Yogh | |||
 | Usage: þis the scribe's thorn is barely distinguishable from 'p'. He uses thorn regularly on this folio for all demonstrative adjectives beginning with 'th'. |  | Usage: þat |
 | Usage: ȝow the scribe frequently uses yogh to represent the 'y' sound in initial positions. |  | Usage: ȝong |
| Ampersand | |||
 | Usage: Ampersand occurs frequently both with and without a straight stroke above. |  | Usage: |
 | Usage: |  | Usage: The scribe even uses an ampersand at the beginning of a line. |
| Abbreviative Marks | |||
 | Usage: i(n) the use of macron over 'i'. |  | Usage: hym frequent use of the flourish on many final letters, 'r', 'm', 'g' and 'n'. |
 | Usage: gou(er)e careless use of the 'er' abbreviation since the final 'n' before 'e' is missing. This abbreviation is used several times. |  | Usage: g(ra)ce the scribe uses the 'ra' abbreviation several times on this folio. |
| Superscript Letters | |||
 | Usage: þt |  | Usage: þ? it is difficult to know what superscript letter the scribe intended here. The text should read 'wheither that' and the scribe may have inserted 'þer' instead, but there is another example on this folio where the scribe uses this form of abbreviation/superscript as a catch-all word. |
 | Usage: Ml the scribe's abbreviation for 'thousand', perhaps unusual in a line of verse. |  | Usage: þu |