The image at the service of the text: figured masorah in the biblical hebrew manuscript BH Mss1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/sefarad.016.002Keywords:
Hebrew Bible, Sefarad, Middle Ages, Micrography, Ornamental MasorahAbstract
The Masoretic notes that appear alongside the biblical text written in geometric or figured shapes are little studied to date. The few existing studies usually focus on the form without paying attention to the content. The biblical Hebrew manuscript BH Mss1 (M1) has a huge number of Masoretic notes in figured patterns and while the existence of figured Masorah has been addressed, their designs have not been described and studied in relation to their content. This paper focuses on the figured Masorah notes, their location, shape and content. From a joint analysis of the form and content it is possible to conclude that the main purpose behind writing the Masorah in figured patterns in M1 is a practical one: to record all the information in the available space.
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