There are a number of fonts available that allow a variety of Latin letters, secretary hand, and court hand etc. to be displayed on your computer some are free some are commercial and have to be bought. As an example Junicode (Junius Unicode)[a basic latin character set] allows not only letters with acutes, graves and circumflexes but also diaeresis, cedilla, macron, tilde, ligiture Ij, and a wide number of other diacritics and phonetic extensions. There is no reason to be limited to the basic font set that comes with your computer. It is not all plain sailing though as such fonts do not work in email and if used on websites create other problems, though these can be overcome with thought. Cheers Guy Ruth Barton wrote: > It is all well and good to transcribe exactly what is written if you are > doing it by hand but I am transcribing some letters that have some peculiar > little curliques on the end of, usually abbreviations or number dates, > words that there are nothing even remotely resembling them on the > computer. So I just do the best I can. > > Now I have a question. What do you do if a word has been crossed out in a > letter? I can't find any way to "line through" on my computer like I could > on a typewriter. Most of the crossed out material is just a botched word > or misspelling that he starts over and I just ignore it but don't know if > that's what I should do or not. Ruth snip -- Wakefield, England http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells The site that gives you facts not promises! //

Am I missing something, or is the main object of transcription of the old handwritings an attempt to make them intelligble to those who don't know these hands? I'm not promoting the complete modernisation of what is written but to faithfully reproduce all the abbreviations would surely enforce the average person to abandon the attempt to read the transcription or, if very determined, to take up paleography in order to read it. In the latter case, he/she might as well read the original document for him/herself. Audrey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Guy Etchells" <guy.etchells@virgin.net> To: <OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 28, 2004 8:40 AM Subject: Re: [OEL] What do I do with that extra "f" > There are a number of fonts available that allow a variety of Latin > letters, secretary hand, and court hand etc. to be displayed on your > computer some are free some are commercial and have to be bought. > > As an example Junicode (Junius Unicode)[a basic latin character set] > allows not only letters with acutes, graves and circumflexes but also > diaeresis, cedilla, macron, tilde, ligiture Ij, and a wide number of > other diacritics and phonetic extensions. > > There is no reason to be limited to the basic font set that comes with > your computer. > > It is not all plain sailing though as such fonts do not work in email > and if used on websites create other problems, though these can be > overcome with thought. > Cheers > Guy > > Ruth Barton wrote: > > It is all well and good to transcribe exactly what is written if you are > > doing it by hand but I am transcribing some letters that have some peculiar > > little curliques on the end of, usually abbreviations or number dates, > > words that there are nothing even remotely resembling them on the > > computer. So I just do the best I can. > > > > Now I have a question. What do you do if a word has been crossed out in a > > letter? I can't find any way to "line through" on my computer like I could > > on a typewriter. Most of the crossed out material is just a botched word > > or misspelling that he starts over and I just ignore it but don't know if > > that's what I should do or not. Ruth > snip > -- > Wakefield, England > http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells The site that gives you facts > not promises! > // > > > ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== > To contact the list administrator: > OLD-ENGLISH-admin@rootsweb.com > >

For accents etc, try this: Start menu - Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Character map. Copy and paste works with e-mails (Outlook Express). Very handy, though it won't cover everything you want. Gordon Barlow > There are a number of fonts available that allow a variety of Latin > letters, secretary hand, and court hand etc. to be displayed on your > computer some are free some are commercial and have to be bought. > > As an example Junicode (Junius Unicode)[a basic latin character set] > allows not only letters with acutes, graves and circumflexes but also > diaeresis, cedilla, macron, tilde, ligiture Ij, and a wide number of > other diacritics and phonetic extensions. > > There is no reason to be limited to the basic font set that comes with > your computer. > > It is not all plain sailing though as such fonts do not work in email > and if used on websites create other problems, though these can be > overcome with thought. > Cheers > Guy