[split] BessAgritianin's reading of 116v

[Koen G]

One problem is that some of these shapes are just problematic. By claiming that they have to be this or that, we're making a fool of ourselves. The only correct way to approach these shapes is to describe them as they compare to common forms in medieval writing, and what the issues with them are.

My main candidate for the "problematic" status on f116v is the various 8-shapes. Anyone claiming that these can be easily read as d or s or whatever has not studied the strokes well.

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After studying how “d” and “short-s” are formed, the conclusion can only be that the VM 8-shapes are neither. If I really must choose, however, I would be inclined to read them as “d”. When I asked Lisa Fagin Davis about this, she agreed that it’s a mess and we really can’t tell. She does agree that “IF they are letters of the Roman alphabet, then I think it likely they’re [d]s, but it’s just too hard to say for sure.”

In contrast, the standard reading of "Maria" is not problematic at all. V-shaped "r" is quite common.