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ElizabethHerts
28-04-13, 08:58
I have been transcribing lots of wills and have therefore been getting lots of experience in the wording used. However, I am very frustrated about the lack of uniformity of the Latin text appearing in the earlier ones relating to the grant of probate. I keep hoping there will be some kind of pattern, but each time the wording appears to be different. Sometimes it is relatively short, other times I get over 10 lines of Latin.

I have to resort to Googling when I get stuck. Often abbreviations are used, which, combined with the difficulty handwriting, leave me stuck.
I hate having wills that aren't fully transcribed, so I soldier on!:(

Phoenix
28-04-13, 09:08
There is a woman lecturer and researcher who was hoping to organise a series on latin/handwriting but said it needed to be over a good many sessions:(

I've done day schools and used TNA's tutorials but the abbreviations often floor me. And of course, if a will is contested, all the sorting out is in latin and that can run to several pages.

I've got a copy of Charles Trice Martin's Record Interpreter which is helpful, but the challenge always is recognizing what the squiggle actually says, before you can expland the abbreviation.

ElizabethHerts
28-04-13, 09:14
Phoenix, I couldn't have expressed it better.

So many words appear to be abbreviated, and for some reason the handwriting of these clauses always seems to be far worse than in the main body of text.

This is a relatively easy one I'm trying to crack:

Probat &c apud Oxon 8o die Septembris 1638
Coram venli viro Samuele Gardner dtore Surr
ac / Oxon commiss / et Jurto Alitia
Silverside Relicte et Uxris et informa / iurat
salve jure iniuscig??

The stupid superscripts aren't appearing!

Janet
28-04-13, 17:41
The stupid superscripts aren't appearing!

Can you take a screenshot of your document where the superscripts are appearing and post that instead, Elizabeth?