Nomina sacra
Nomina sacra (singular: noun sacrum ) in Latin means " sacred names " and is used as a technical term for paläografischer a tradition, often occurring several sacred names, titles or designations that meet early in the Greek Scriptures and in theological literature, abbreviated to write. The technical term nouns sacra was influenced by Ludwig Traube, in which he used a term he had with the Carolingian exegetes Christian of Stavelot found. Unlike the secular and non-Christian Scripture sector where suspension cuts prevailed, were preferred for nouns sacra from the beginning contraction cuts. The contractions were characterized by an overline. The suspected of grape derivation of the phenomenon of the use of Scripture Hellenistic Judaism to put the symbols ΘΣ and ΚΣ instead of the ineffable Tetragrammaton is no longer maintained, but " seems to be a very first excitation by the Tetragrammaton in Jewish-Christian circles, about Alexandria, possible."
With the beginning of the third century the nomina sacra were sometimes shortened in Christian inscriptions. This led to a sequence of Greek letters such as IH ( iota- eta ), IC ( iota- sigma), or IHC ( iota- eta - sigma) for Jesus (Greek Iēsous ) and XC ( chi sigma), XP (chi - ro ) and XPC ( chi rho sigma) for Christ (Greek Christos ). Here, "C " for the uncial ( moon -like ) form of the Greek Sigma. Earlier this practice has also been adopted in the Latin -speaking West, while retaining some Greek, Latin partly using characters, some of mixed alphabets. So could about the Greek C ( sigma) are transcribed by his sound in the Latin alphabet, which then yields IHS and XPS revealed. Pure latin were DS ( deus ), DNS ( dominus ), PR ( pater ), PLC ( spirit ), SCS ( sanctus ) NO ( noster ) INRI ( Jesus Nazarene rex Iudaeorum ), later also OMPS or OPS ( omnipotens ) presented. The Greek and Latin declension endings could be represented by the last letter was replaced accordingly ( DNI, DNM for domini, dominum etc.). Related phenomena are the monograms and the abbreviated or highlighted by initials beginning of words at the beginning of sections within liturgical manuscripts and manuscripts of the Bible, often artistically designed by initials and were indicated meaningful, such as TI (Te igitur ) at the beginning of the Canon Missae, VD ( vere Dignum ) at the beginning of the Preface, B ( beatus vir ) at the beginning of the Psalter, LI or LIB ( liber generationis ) at the beginning of Matthew's Gospel, XPI ( autem Christi generatio ) at the beginning of Jesus's genealogy in Matthew's Gospel (Mt 1:18); IN ( initium evangelii ) at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, Q ( Quoniam quidem ) at the beginning of Luke's Gospel, INP ( in principio ) at the beginning of John's Gospel.
The tradition of nomina sacra is also found in Coptic, Armenian, Gothic and Church Slavonic manuscripts ( see titlo ).