Ligatured letters
Is the letter ligatured?
Ligatures are joined up letters. Some can confuse the novice palaeographer, because written together they can look like a single letter. In Scots palaeography the most common problems seem to occur with ligatures containing the letter h. Get to know some common ones: the ch, th, and sh ligatures.
Look at the way letters are ligatured in the words chalder, thousand and parish below.
Image
![the words chalder, thousand and parish showing ligatured letters](/sites/default/files/styles/maximum_size/public/2024-02/problemletters_16.1.gif?itok=vb1_nkA4)
Image
![the words chalder, thousand and parish showing ligatured letters](/sites/default/files/styles/maximum_size/public/2024-02/problemletters_16.2.gif?itok=hqmzoRfW)
Image
![the words chalder, thousand and parish showing ligatured letters](/sites/default/files/styles/maximum_size/public/2024-02/problemletters_16.3.gif?itok=HOIWhhZv)
If this hasn't solved the problem try another option:
Capital letters
Interference
Superscript marks
Double letters
Idiosyncratic letters
Bad writing
Return to the problem letters page.