Interesting. I noticed that the Omicron Sigma ligatures are used only for two suffixes: -ίσκος and -μενος.Because of which characters are represented in ligature form (ος) and which are not, we can discard the suggestions that the ligature used in the text is -μενος or "-νος," and we can understand Tselikas more correctly as organizing different illustrative examples alphabetically that he detects in this manuscript rather than declaring that there is a "-κος" or "-νος" ligature.
...
The preceding letter does seem to be significant. For example, when preceded by ρ, the ligature is written zero times and not written 4 times. When preceded by τ, the ligature is written zero times and not written 6 times. We also have an example of inconsistency in the case of κ followed by -ος. Within that example, it could be speculated that the name Μάρκος (twice written without a ligature) was treated differently than the other word (νεανίσκος), but the value of such speculation is limited without additional examples.
The first is a noun-forming diminutive suffix: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ίσκος
The second forms middle, passive, and mediopassive participles: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-μενος
So maybe the scribe learned to do ligatures for some suffixes and if he didn't see them he just wrote the letters without the ligature.
Statistics: Posted by AdamKvanta — Mon May 06, 2024 11:30 pm