Language quiz

Here is a handwritten note in a mystery language. Can you work out what language it is?

handwritten note in a mystery language

Comments (12)

PodolskyFebruary 17th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

It looks like a Greek papyrus probably 2000 years old.

ClarkFebruary 17th, 2007 at 6:12 pm

Is it a fragment of a letter from Vindolanda by any chance? In which case it would be in Latin.

VictoriaFebruary 17th, 2007 at 10:30 pm

Complete guess but … how about sanskrit?

VictoriaFebruary 17th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

No, wait …. Norse?

Evans KnightFebruary 17th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

theres a letter in the second line that looks like a hebrew lamed.

ARFebruary 18th, 2007 at 12:57 am

It may be an ancient middle eastern script.

JoshFebruary 18th, 2007 at 1:05 am

I say Latin- I’ve seen something like this before somehow associated with the Romans, but I can’t remember how.

Joseph StaleknightFebruary 18th, 2007 at 2:34 am

I doubt that it was Hindi. That looks more like papyrus that it’s written on, and so should be a Mediterranean language.

Yeah, definitely papyrus.

d.m.falkFebruary 18th, 2007 at 5:03 am

Aramaic.

d.m.f.

SimonFebruary 18th, 2007 at 1:40 pm

The writing is cursive Latin handwriting. It comes from Caesarea in Mauretania and dates back to the 2nd Century AD. The text is an acknowledgement of debt.

Source: http://www.lib.umich.edu/pap/exhibits/writing/latin_cursive.html

AlexandraFebruary 19th, 2007 at 5:38 pm

Latin in Roman cursive, a nightmare for any palaeography student ;)

JamesApril 6th, 2007 at 4:59 pm

It looks semitic: I can see letters which look like a Lamek and a peh, but it´s not a semitic script I know and I would say that it is written L-R and not R-L – look at the slant of the letters and the direction of the weight of the pen in the cross strokes. So I don´t think semitic.

but something old from the papyrus it´s written on. It´s also not greek. Stumped. Something old that is not semitic or greek.

OK I looked. Latin? Well I supose it is ancient and non-semitic

James