Spanish Paleography

For those who might like to practice “paleography,” or the making of a typed transcription of a manuscript page, we provide here some elements that might be helpful.  We draw from the first page of the Codex Mendoza, a page in Spanish, highlighting how the letters can be written.  We also share a key to the abbreviations and some of the more challenging words, owing to the way they are written or spelled (orthography).  At the end, one can pull up the page and give transcription-making a try.


 Codex Mendoza (Matrícula de Tributos, 1553), folio 1 recto


This is the top part of the first page of text (f. 1r.), from which are drawn the details below.

Folio1TopSection


 Abbreviations

Cristo1

“xpo” with a wavy line over it denoting an abbreviation, i.e. Cristo (Christ)

nuestro1

“nro” with a line over it, i.e. nuestro (our)

que1

que2

“q” with a swirl (two examples), i.e. que (that)


Especially Challenging Words

año

año (year)

e1uppercase

E (often used where we might expect “y,” meaning “and”)

cibdad1

çibdad (i.e. ciudad, city); the swirl on the far left may be meant to serve
as the bottom part of the c for the ç; then we have c and i run together;
the b serves where we would expect the u today

era1

era (it was); the e is much larger and more stylized than the r and a

haze1

haze (i.e. hace, it makes, it does); the h is the main challenge here

Riñon1

Riñón (or riñón, usually kidney, but here referring to a measurement;
some will see the R as rr, instead, representing a trilling of the r;
note how the tilde over the middle n is encompassed in the curving mark that goes around to the right)


Letters from the Alphabet (with Context)

a1

Above, we have a lower case “a,” and it comes at the end of the word provided as context,
“Comiença” (i.e. Comienza, it begins), shown below.

a1Comiença


a2

Above, we have a lower case “a,” and it comes at the end of the word provided as context, “la,”
shown below.  The a could almost be mistaken for “or.”

a2la


b1

This is a lower case “b,” and it comes in the middle of the word provided as context,
“cibdad” (i.e. ciudad, city).

b1cibdad


b3

This is a lower case “b,” and it comes at the beginning of the word provided as context,
“breve” (brief).

b3breve


b2

This is a lower case “b,” and it comes in the middle of the word provided as context,
“nobrauan” (i.e. nombraban, they were naming).

b2nobrauan(nombraban)


(to be continued)