lagabókstafir

Lagabókstafir, literally “law-book letters,” is a term used in Icelandic palaeography and codicology to denote the graphemic conventions found in medieval Icelandic legal manuscripts. The expression refers to the characteristic spelling, abbreviations, ligatures, and other scribal practices that appear in legal texts and legal codes rather than in narrative or broader vernacular writing. The concept is most often encountered in studies of early Icelandic law codes, such as Grágás, and in editions of medieval laws where scribes reproduced legal formulas and terminology.

Lagabókstafir is not a formal orthography or a fixed alphabet; rather it describes how scribes wrote legal material in a historical period. Features commonly discussed include the use of abbreviations typical of legal writing, specific letter forms, and script conventions that may differ from the surrounding manuscripts. The study of lagabókstafir helps scholars interpret the textual transmission of legal material, establish dating and provenance of manuscripts, and prepare critical editions or digitization projects.

In contemporary use, the term mainly appears in academic discourse among historians, philologists, and paleographers working with medieval Icelandic texts. Modern Icelandic orthography has since evolved beyond the scribal conventions captured by lagabókstafir, but the concept remains relevant for understanding the manuscript culture of Iceland’s legal tradition.