History in Documents and a Document in History
Шрифт:
(Abridged from the original texts provided by Britannica Encyclopedia)
1. Answer the following questions:
1) What was ink made of?
2) What colour was ink?
3) What languages were documents written on?
4) What caused the vulgarization of Latin?
5) What documents were written in Latin?
6) In what countries was vernacular used?
2. Find the English equivalents for the following words:
средство / золотое тиснение / цвет, оттенок (3 слова) / заменить (2 слова) / выцвести / происхождение / весь / падение, крах / основание
3. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right:
4. Make nouns from the following verbs:
5. Say what part of speech are the following words. Translate them into Russian. Make your own sentences with these words:
generally _______________
originally _______________
occasionally _______________
primarily ________________
slowly ________________
gradually ________________
early ________________
Text 5
Read the text and do the tasks after it.
A correct assessment of the hand in which it was written is vital to ascertaining the provenance and authenticity of a document. Thus, the knowledge of paleography, different styles of ancient writing, is a skill essential to diplomatics. The broad basis of such knowledge begins with acquaintance with the general styles of writing current at particular times and places. This varied with the way the pen was held; whether the writing was cursive or had the letters formed separately; whether it was majuscule, all the letters being contained between a single pair of horizontal lines, or minuscule, with parts of the letters extending above and below the lines. There is a further distinction between what is called book hand and the business, or court, hand at one time used for documents.
In Europe the Roman capital letters were distinguished as rustic or square, uncial, and Roman majuscule and minuscule cursive. They influenced all subsequent writing in the West. The Roman curial style (from the Curia, or papal court), used in the papal chancery until the 12th century, was a derivation of late Roman minuscule cursive. After the disintegration of the Western Empire, the Merovingian Franks used a Roman provincial script for their documents. Distinctive forms developed elsewhere, in Visigothic Spain and in Ireland. The Irish script, a half uncial (uncials are rounded letters) and a minuscule script, spread to Anglo-Saxon England and thence to the European continent. Under the
Carolingian rulers, a particularly clear and attractive minuscule book hand (Caroline minuscule) was developed; modifications of this gradually became used in documents and eventually spread also to Italy, England, and Spain. A “Gothic,” more pointed form of script developed since the 11th century in northern France and soon spread all over Europe, so that writing became more spidery in appearance. In the early years of the Renaissance, Italian scholars such as Poggio (Poggio Bracciolini) and Niccol`o Niccoli developed a minuscule based on the Carolingian, and variants of this style were used by the Venetian Aldus Manutius and other pioneers of printing.
(Abridged from the original texts provided by Britannica Encyclopedia)
Notes:
Curia –
the Carolingian rulers
Visigothic Spain
Gothic
the Venetian Aldus Manutius
1. Read the text and give the title to it.
2. Give Russian equivalents to the following words:
1) ascertain ______________________
2) assessment ____________________
3) provenance ____________________
4) authenticity ____________________
5) diplomatics ____________________
6) cursive _______________________
7) rustic ________________________
8) chancery _____________________
9) derivation ____________________
3. Find in the text the definitions for the following:
paleography
majuscule
minuscule
uncial
Caroline minuscule
Gothic
Curia
4. Say which words or phrases the pronouns given in bold refer to.
5. Ask questions to the text using these question words:
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
Text 6. Paper
Read the text and do the tasks after it.
Paper is thin material used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging, produced by the amalgamation of fibers, usually vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. Though the fibers are usually natural in origin, a wide variety of synthetic fibers, such as polypropylene and polyethylene, may be incorporated into paper as a way of imparting desirable physical properties. The most common source of these kinds of fibers is wood pulp from pulpwood trees, largely softwoods and hardwoods, such as spruce and aspen respectively. Other vegetable fiber materials including those of cotton, hemp, linen, and rice may be used.
The word paper comes from the Greek term for the ancient Egyptian writing material called papyrus, which was formed from beaten strips of papyrus plants. Papyrus was produced as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, and sold to ancient Greece and Rome. The establishment of the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC put a drain on the supply of papyrus.
Paper is considered to be one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, as the first standard papermaking process was developed in China during the early 2nd century. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties of ancient China, documents were ordinarily written on bone or bamboo, making them very heavy and awkward to transport. The light material of silk was sometimes used, but was normally too expensive to consider.
It is widely regarded that the Han Dynasty Chinese court official invented the modern method of papermaking from wood pulp in 105 AD. However, true paper without writing has been excavated in China dating to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han from the 2nd century BC. It was used for purposes of wrapping or padding for protection of delicate bronze mirrors. Although paper used for writing became widespread by the 3rd century, paper continued to be used for wrapping and other purposes.
Toilet paper was used in China by at least the 6th century AD. Toilet paper continued to be necessary in China. During the Hongwu Emperor's reign in AD 1393 the Bureau of Imperial Supplies manufactured 720,000 sheets of toilet paper for the entire court produced of the cheap rice-straw paper. For the emperor's family alone, 15,000 special sheets of paper were made, in light yellow tint and even perfumed.