Filologija, No. 62, 2014.
Original scientific paper
Cyrillic documents from Ragusan chancellery in the 15th century between minuscule and italic
Mateo Žagar
; Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu
Kristian Paskojević
Abstract
The primary aim of the paper was to subject a document written by Nikša Zvijezdić, a mid-15th century notary, to a thorough analysis on all graphetic levels using the methodology of Latin and, partially, Glagolitic palaeography. Despite the undeniable fact that the palaeography of each script should have its own terminology and methodology, we believe that there exist certain general formative categories applicable to all scripts of the Greek origin. Our analysis has shown that the letter coordination, essential in the creation of the Latin minuscule and the Croatian minuscule Glagolitic script (falsely labelled ‘constitutional’), appears in chancery Cyrillic script as well. It was, in all probability, strongly influenced by contacts with the Latin cursive minuscule. That was inevitable since notaries were equally versed in writing in both scripts. Even though there are numerous elements of categories such as ‘minuscule’ or ‘cursive’ it is not strictly necessary to employ any of these terms to the script style of the Dubrovnik documents in question. On the other hand, the categories of coordination, minusculization and cursiveness cannot be avoided in the study of the script development. It has also come to light that the presence of the unusual letters in the so-called Cyrillic diplomatic minuscule can only be interpreted through coordination process as the basic tool of minusculization. It is indisputable that such changes in the Cyrillic script could have developed on their own, but it is far more likely that they were propelled by the influence of the highly developed systematic nature of the Latin script and its tendency to arrange the mid zone lines of the body line according to writing speed and reading abilities.
Keywords
cyrillic paleography; cyrillic minuscule; literacy in Dubrovnik; croatian cyrillic script
Hrčak ID:
138399
URI
Publication date:
28.4.2015.
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