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enter image description hereI need help transcribing the word in the red box: has anybody ever encountered this abbreviation/spelling before? Could anybody point me towards a resource that answers my question? I've looked in Cappelli, but nothing so far.

Adam
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asdf1234
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1 Answers1

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It should say Inas or Ina. Ina, whose name is referred to as Ine on Wikipedia (unclear if this is because of a modernisation of his weakly declined Old English name or because ancient sources are also inconsistent), was the only king of Wessex who had a father named Kerend (Wikipedia spells it Cenred). Wikipedia also Latinises his name as Inus although the name of his law book was Codex Inae, implying his name was first declension. I can't tell you why the letters are the way they are though -- this is not a standardised ligature.

I found this by googling the snippet "dei gratia westsaxonum rex exhortatione", which led me to a Google Books scan of what, confusingly, appears to be multiple books in a row, but this is the crucial part.

Ego Inas Google Books screenshot

This book from the 1600s transcribes it as Inas.

Agnes
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    Since his book of laws is named the Codex Inae, I'd says his name was Inas, and that "Inus" is just Wikipedia bobbling the Latin, as usual, probably because automated text scanners often can't tell the difference between "a" and "u". – Figulus Jun 02 '21 at 03:27
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    I think you're right, and I can't think of any reason why his name wouldn't have been Ina in Old English of the time, so I've updated my answer to more clearly suggest Ina or Inas. Thanks! – Agnes Jun 02 '21 at 06:40
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    One of Wikipedia's sources lists "Inus" as a variant (but only 1 attestation out of 55 listed). "Inas" isn't listed even once, though evidently there is the one you found scanned – b a Jun 02 '21 at 16:57
  • Good find. The print below has Ine, which looks more like what's in the manuscript: https://books.google.com/books?id=oudBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA744&lpg=PA744&dq=%22dei+gratia+westsaxonum+rex+exhortatione%22&source=bl&ots=d-VX2BpqRU&sig=ACfU3U3MeL_tWrbT8wA2lmsUyx6j9oVWzQ&hl=en&sa=X#v=onepage&q=%22dei%20gratia%20westsaxonum%20rex%20exhortatione%22&f=false – Cerberus Jun 04 '21 at 21:49
  • There is still an open question left why the word is spelled in a such strange way. – Janusz S. Bień Jun 08 '21 at 18:19