palaeografi

Palaeografi, or paleography, is the scholarly study of old handwriting, scripts, and manuscripts. It aims to read, date, and contextualize historical texts by analyzing the way they were written and produced. The term derives from Greek palaios, “old,” and graphia, “writing.” Paleography is closely related to codicology, which examines the physical book as an artifact, and to epigraphy, which studies inscriptions on durable surfaces.

The core methods of palaeography include examining letter forms, ligatures, abbreviations, and page layout; identifying different scribal hands and regional styles; and dating and locating manuscripts by script chronology and material clues such as parchment, paper, ink, and bindings. Paleographers also study scribal practices, such as rubrication, marginalia, and correction techniques, to understand the transmission and reception of texts.

Applications of palaeography include establishing the provenance and age of manuscripts, producing accurate transcriptions and critical editions, and identifying forgeries or interpolations. It supports historical research by clarifying how texts circulated and were copied, and it is increasingly integral to digital humanities projects, including digital palaeography and automated handwriting analysis.

The field spans a wide range of languages and cultures, from Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic to Cyrillic and vernacular scripts, and covers periods from antiquity to the early modern era. Paleographers work with libraries, archives, and museums to catalog and conserve manuscripts, often in interdisciplinary collaboration with textual criticism, codicology, and history. Modern practice also employs imaging technologies, such as multispectral and infrared photography, to reveal faded or erased features.