Expositio Notarum

This Latin text, dating from around AD 400, is a unique source of information on the teaching of Latin shorthand in North Africa. It provides insight into the relationship between shorthand and literary Latin and the classical Roman past. The manuscript, which originated in Anglo-Saxon England by AD 700, is used for the earliest Latin glossary from that context. The edition aims to make this story accessible to a wide audience, with extensive indices for consultation from various perspectives.

Format: Hardback
Length: 642 pages
Publication date: 08 September 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

This is the first edition of a Latin text unlike any other surviving one: at first sight, an extensive, jumbled list of words with explanations, on closer inspection, a window on the teaching of Latin shorthand in North Africa c. AD 400, when we find notarii, those trained in shorthand, prominently employed everywhere in state and church. The text reveals in detail how that training could relate to literary Latin and the classical Roman past. The single manuscript of it in our possession descends from a copy that must have been in Anglo-Saxon England by AD 700, and we can see how it was used for the earliest Latin glossary from that context. The edition seeks to make this story accessible both in general and in detail, with copious indices for those who may wish to consult it from various viewpoints: classical and later Latin, linguistic and historical.

The text reveals in detail how that training could relate to literary Latin and the classical Roman past.

The single manuscript of it in our possession descends from a copy that must have been in Anglo-Saxon England by AD 700, and we can see how it was used for the earliest Latin glossary from that context.

The edition seeks to make this story accessible both in general and in detail, with copious indices for those who may wish to consult it from various viewpoints: classical and later Latin, linguistic and historical.

Weight: 912g
Dimension: 148 x 224 x 43 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781316514795