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447 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

447

of tlio square letters became somewhat roiiiidcd. and the heads were made smaller or disappeared altogether; later on, distinct modifications took place in some of the letters. The brief inscriptions daubed in red ink mn the walls of the catacombs of Venosa are probably the oldest examples of cvirsive script. .Still loiif^er texts in a cursive al]ilmbet arc furnished by the clay bowls found in Baliyloniu and bearini; exorcisms against maf;ical intlucnccsand evil spirits (see Bibliography 111). These no doubt date from the seventh or eiglitli century, and some of the letters are written in a form that is very antiijuated (Plate V., col. 1). Somewhat lessof a cursive nature is the manuscript, which dates from the eiirhth century (see Biblioirraphy 11). Cols. --Ill xliibit ciirsic scripts of various

of Plate V. exhibit the

J72>l/» 'Mfi* J»j)t/ j>)j'yvsn

Mii

The next

later date.

German

cursive script of a is taken from a

to the last

manuscript of Elias Levita. The accompanying specimen presents Scphardic .script. In this flowing cursive alphabet the ligatures appear more often. They occur especially in letters which have a sharp turn to the left (3, t, 3, J. V. DK and above all in J, whose great open bow offers ample s[iace for another

letter.

The following

are the successive stages in the de-

velopment of each letter: Alep/t is separated into two parts, the first being written thus <, and the perpendieidar stroke jilaced at the left )^ In the mmlern (Jernian cursive these two elements arc separated, Ihuslc. and lIuacutcanL'le was rounded. It received .

jiSivf* jsj^y^ -ijj /i'99jjj o^f)oy* j*j£"jLfj

•lyV

Alphabet

ojpy ^%' hJ

o'spjjy^ v^-yy 'i^y

O'JsirX/f

of

'

J>JJ)t'j>/jit'J' 7>X->-i^ oJ*>^

SI'KCIMKN VV MOIIKU.V SKI'MAKDIC SCRIPT. (Portkm nf

(hi- orltfltiRl iirltcic

on " McxlKm Ak-ziinrithe S(|Uare text. vate nature were certainly written in a much more running hand, as the sjimplc from one of the oldest Arabic epistles written with Ilebnw letters (tenth century clearly shows in the papyrus, in " FUhrer (lurch "die .ussiellung." 'i'able Xl... Vienna. tS!l|. (compare Plali' V., col. 1) But since the jireservalion of such ipistles was not held to be (if impiirtance. material of this nature from the earlier times is very scarce, and as a consi(|Uenee the develupment of the script is very hard to follow. The last two colmnus a

Cursive

'.')

less

line' iii)pi'ars.

For the

also

"The J*wi«h

Enfy.-loptHila ")

an abbreviatcil fornicomieetcd with the favorite L and it is to this ligature of AlepU and

old ligature

,

A((H((yniiat the contracted Oriental Ali/ili owes its origin (Plate v.. col. 7). In writing /!<(. tin- lower part

necessitated an interruption,

obstacle

it

and

to

was made J, and, with the

overcome

this

omission

total

tlourish of

of the whole lower line,

rest

stroke is lengthened more and more. Ihiht had its stroke jnit on obliiiucly to distinguish it from Itmti howevi'r, sim-e in rapid writing it easily assumed a form similar in appeamnce to 1, T in analogy with a

I

?. In

Oimfl, the

left

hand

was later changed

to /^.

A

tnuisformation very simi-

lar to this took placeiii the ca.sesof final A'<i/i/( and of A'"/)/( (see cols. 'i. Tt. 11, 14). except that ly'/iti opened out a Irille more than Kii/i/i. The luwer part of '/.in/iii was bent sharply to the right and rei-eived a litlli?

hook

at

the bottom.

was linglhencd. cle unlii (as in

The

I.miiiil

left

hand stroke of

gradually

lost

its

Tit

senneir-

both the NalmlaanArabie and Syriac