handrituðum

Handrituðum is an Icelandic term meaning "handwritten" and is used to describe texts written by hand rather than printed or typed. The base noun handrit means manuscript, while the related adjective handrituð (feminine) or handrituður (masculine) form agrees with the noun. The form handrituðum is the dative plural used when the phrase modifies a plural noun in the dative case, for example handrituðum skjalum (to the handwritten documents).

In library, archive, and scholarly contexts, handrituðum appears in descriptions of manuscripts or copies that were produced without moveable type. The term helps distinguish original handwritten copies from later printed editions or typewritten drafts. Paleographers study handriti manuscripts to learn about the scribe's script, date, provenance, and textual history.

Historically, most texts in pre-modern Iceland and Europe circulated in manuscript form. Manuscripts were created by scribes in monastic, legal, or scholarly settings; many survive in national corpora. Handwritten manuscripts may show features such as script type, marginalia, corrections, and palimpsests, which are of interest to historians.

Today, handrituðum remains a standard descriptive term in cataloging and scholarly writing, though the distinction between handwritten and printed is less central with widespread digitization. The term also appears in descriptions of draft scripts, letters, and notes produced by hand for personal or archival purposes.