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==Terminology== [[File:Codex Manesse 193r - Albrecht von Rapperswil.jpg|thumb|Manuscript, [[Codex Manesse]]. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered.]] [[File:Thucydides Manuscript.jpg|thumb|10th-century minuscule manuscript of [[Thucydides]]'s [[History of the Peloponnesian War]]]] [[File:Satie sports preface.jpg|thumb|First page of [[Erik Satie|Satie]]'s ''[[Sports et divertissements]]'' (published as a facsimile in 1923)]] The word "manuscript" derives from the {{langx|la|manūscriptum}} (from {{lang|la|manus}}, [[hand]] and {{lang|la|scriptum}} from {{lang|la|scribere}}, to [[write]]), and is first recorded in English in 1597.<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |date=1933 |entry=Manuscript |entry-url=https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%206/page/145/mode/1up |page=145 |volume=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=manuscript |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/manuscript_adj?tab=factsheet#37996804 |website=www.oed.com |access-date=24 December 2024 |language=en}}</ref> An earlier term in English that shares the meaning of a handwritten document is "hand-writ" (or "handwrit"), which is first attested around 1175 and is now rarely used.<ref>{{cite web |title=hand-writ |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/hand-writ_n?tab=meaning_and_use |website=OED |access-date=24 December 2024}}</ref> The study of the writing (the "hand") in surviving manuscripts is termed [[palaeography]] (or paleography). The traditional abbreviations are '''MS''' for manuscript and '''MSS''' for manuscripts,<ref>Harper, Douglas. "[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=manuscript Manuscript] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228000013/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=manuscript |date=28 February 2008 }}." Online Etymology Dictionary. November 2001. Accessed 10-11-2007.</ref><ref>"[http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=228 Medieval English Literary Manuscripts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209203422/https://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=228 |date=9 December 2008 }}." www.Library.Rtruuochester.Edu. 22 June 2004. University of Rochester Libraries. Accessed 10-11-2007.</ref> while the forms '''MS.''', '''ms''' or '''ms.''' for singular, and '''MSS.''', '''mss''' or '''mss.''' for plural (with or without the full stop, all uppercase or all lowercase) are also accepted.<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossM.asp "Manuscript" (abbreviated ms. and mss.) in British Library Glossaries] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312145527/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossM.asp |date=12 March 2016 }}, [[The British Library]]. Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ms "ms", "ms." and "MS"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313035434/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ms |date=13 March 2016 }} in The Free Dictionary (American Heritage 2011 and Random House Kernerman Webster's 2010). Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/MSS "MSS", "mss" and "mss."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313022826/http://www.thefreedictionary.com/MSS |date=13 March 2016 }} in The Free Dictionary (American Heritage 2011, Collins 2014 and Random House Kernerman Webster's 2010). Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mss- "MSS"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313033228/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mss- |date=13 March 2016 }} (MS. and ms., MSS. and mss.) in Dictionary.com LLC(Random House 2014 and Collins 2012). Accessed 12 March 2016.</ref> The second ''s'' is not simply the plural; by an old convention, a doubling of the last letter of the abbreviation expresses the plural, just as ''pp.'' means "pages". A manuscript may be a [[codex]] (i.e. [[Bookbinding|bound as a book]]), a [[scroll (parchment)|scroll]], or bound differently or consist of loose pages. [[Illuminated manuscript]]s are enriched with pictures, border decorations, elaborately embossed initial letters or full-page illustrations. ===Parts=== * [[Book cover|Cover]] * [[Book design#Front cover, spine, and back cover|Flyleaf]] (blank sheet) * [[Colophon (publishing)|Colophon]] (publication information) * [[incipit]] (the first few words of the text) * decoration; illustrations * dimensions * [[Shelfmark]] or Signature in holding library (as opposed to printed Catalog number). Paper size number often precedes signature number with a ''circulus'' ([[degree symbol]]) following, but many libraries prefer spelling out the word (sometimes only in abbreviation) of the paper size (e.g. Fol[ia]., Qu[arto], Oct[avo, etc.). Some libraries use an equal sign instead of the circulus and may change the side on which the paper size number appears (8=3456 vs 3456=8) for indexing purposes. * works/compositions included in same ms * [[codicological]] elements: ** deletions method: erasure? [[overstrike]]? [[overdot|dots above letters]]? ** headers/footers ** page format/layout: columns? text and surrounding commentary/additions/glosses? ** [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]]s (passage not written by the original author) ** owners' marginal notations/corrections ** owner signatures ** dedication/[[inscription]] ** censor signatures * [[collation]] (quires) (binding order) * [[Pagination|foliation]] * [[Page numbering|page numeration]] * [[Bookbinding|binding]] * manuscripts bound together in a single volume: ** convolute: volume containing different manuscripts ** [[Serial (literature)|fascicle]]: individual manuscript, part of a set (called a '''convolute'''). ===Materials=== * [[paper]] * [[parchment]] * [[papyrus]] to preserve text * [[ink]] * [[writing implement]] used * [[pencil]] to help with the writing process * [[pastedown]] (blank paper for inside cover) ===Paleographic elements=== * script (one or more) * dating * [[line filler]]s * [[rubrication]] (red ink text) * ruled lines * [[catchwords]] * historical elements of the ms: blood, wine etc. stains * condition: ** smokiness ** evidence of fire ** mold ** wormed ===Reproduction=== {{see also|Facsimile}} The mechanical reproduction of a manuscript is called [[facsimile]]. Digital reproductions can be called (high-resolution) [[Image scanner|scan]]s or [[digital image]]s.
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