Tironian notes
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Tironian notes (notae Tironianae) is a system of shorthand said to have been invented by Cicero's scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro.
Its first use is reported by Plutarch to be 63 B.C., when Tiro noted a speech of Cato the younger against Catiline. Tiro's system consisted of about 4,000 signs, somewhat extended in classical times to 5,000 signs. In the Medieval period, Tironian notes were taught in monasteries and the system was extended to about 13,000 signs. The use of Tironian notes declined after A.D. 1100 but some use can still be seen for the 17th century.
Two Tironian notes are still used today: the Tironian “et” in Ireland – also used elsewhere in blackletter texts as late as 1821 –, and the “z” of “viz” (short for videlicet), which denotes a Tironian symbol shaped somewhat like a “z”.
The Tironian “et” looks very similar to an “r rotunda”.
External links
- [Karl Eberhard Henke: Über Tironische Noten] Manuscript B 16 of the "Bibliothek der Monumenta Germaniae Historica", c. 1960 (German)
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