Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
DescriptionsandImagesoftheEarlyMedievalLatinAbacus
25
Plate5.TheVaticanabacus[V](11
th
century);drawingacc.toVatican,Lat.644,f.77v178r
Thereisanumberofsurvivingdrawingsofabacusesfromthe11
th
and12
th
century
43
.Thisarticle,however,willfocusonlyonfourcases.Firstofall,there
isamanuscriptfromFécamp,datingbacktothe11
th
centuryandpreservedin
Rouen(Rouen,Bibliothèquemunicipale,MS489,f.68v169r),whichcontains
thedrawingofanunusual,ten-columnabacus[R](seeplate6)
44
.Eachofthe
columnsendswithanarchwithwrittendecimalscalevalues,symbols,and
thenamesofwestern-Arabicnumerals.Apartfromcertaindecorativeness,the
abacusisparticularlyinterestingduetothepresenceofGreeknumerals(for
values119,i.e.A1Ө).Asinthecaseof[E],[B],and[G],thisabacusishori-
zontallydividedintofourparts.
43
ForexampleOxford,St.John’sCollege,MS17,41v142r.Seehttp://digital.library.mc-
gill.ca/ms-17/folio.php?p=41v;resp.http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/ms-17/folio.php?p=42r.
44
ItsbriefdescriptionandphotocopyfoundinM.Folkerts:Thenamesandforms…,
p.256.
