#just open a dictionary!

[cuties-in-codices]

Where do you find these manuscripts? Is it like a website or do you find it randomly??

hey, thanks for the curiosity! lenghty answer below the cut :)

1)

medieval manuscripts are typically owned by libraries and showcased on the library's websites. so one thing i do is i randomly browse those digitized manuscript collections (like the collections of the bavarian state library or the bodleian libraries, to name just two), which everybody can do for free without any special access. some digital collections provide more useful tools than others (like search functions, filters, annotations on each manuscript). if they don't, the process of wading through numerous non-illustrated manuscripts before i find an illustrated one at all can be quite tedious.

2)

there are databases which help to navigate the vast sea of manuscripts. the one i couldn't live without personally use the most is called KdIH (Katalog der deutschsprachigen illustrierten Handschriften des Mittelalters). it's a project which aims to list all illustrated medieval manuscripts written in german dialects. the KdIH provides descriptions of the contents of each manuscript (with a focus on the illustrations), and if there's a digital reproduction of a manuscript available anywhere, the KdIH usually links to it. the KdIH is an invaluable tool for me because of its focus on illustrated manuscripts, because of the informations it provides for each manuscript, and because of its useful search function (once you've gotten over the initial confusion of how to navigate the website). the downside is that it includes only german manuscripts, which is one of the main reasons for the over-representation of german manuscripts on my blog (sorry about that).

3)

another important database for german manuscripts in general (i.e. not just illustrated ones) is the handschriftencensus, which catalogues information regarding the entirety of german language manuscripts of the middle ages, and also links to the digital reproductions of each manuscript.

4)

then there are simply considerable snowball effects. if you do even just superficial research on any medieval topic at all (say, if you open the wikipedia article on alchemy), you will inevitably stumble upon mentions of specific illustrated manuscripts. the next step is to simply search for a digital copy of the manuscript in question (this part can sometimes be easier said than done, especially when you're coming from wikipedia). one thing to keep in mind is that a manuscript illustration seldom comes alone - so every hint to any illustration at all is a greatly valuable one (if you do what i do lol). there's always gonna be something interesting in any given illustrated manuscript. (sidenote: one very effective 'cheat code' would be to simply go through all manuscripts that other online hobbyist archivers of manuscript illustrations have gone through before - like @discardingimages on tumblr - but some kind of 'professional pride' detains me from doing so. that's just a kind of stubbornness though. like, i want to find my material more or less on my own, not just the images but also the manuscripts, and i apply arbitrary rules to my search as to what exactly that means.)

5)

whatever tool or strategy i use to find specific illustrated manuscripts-- in the end, one unavoidable step is to actually manually skim through the (digitized) manuscript. i usually have at least a quick look at every single illustrated page, and i download or screenshot everything that is interesting to me. this process can take up to an hour per manuscript.

---

in conclusion, i'd say that finding cool illuminated manuscripts is much simpler than i would have thought before i started this blog. there are so many of them out there and they're basically just 'hidden in plain side', it's really astounding. finding the manuscripts doesn't require special skills, just some basic experience with/knowledge of the tools available. the reason i'm able to post interesting images almost daily is just that i spend a lot of time doing all of this, going through manuscripts, curating this blog, etc. i find a lot of comfort in it, i learn a lot along the way, and i immensely enjoy people's engagement with my posts. so that's that :)

#if you ever have any specific questions about any of these tools or my strategies feel free to ask or dm me #i'd also be interested in recommendations of databases that are specific to other languages/regions that are neither german nor english #preferably with a focus on illuminated manuscripts #or useful databases that are just not very well known #ask #medieval art #medieval studies #btw @anon sorry for only getting around to answering your ask now #and re: your following message. first of all never apologize for your english skills. like ever #it's a daily struggle for me as well tbh. i never post anything without german/english dictionary tabs open lol #and i feel like i 'owe' it to the tumblr blogger format to write in smooth english #secondly your question wasn't dumb at all! i'm glad somebody asked :)

[thefabledcannibals]

I love this show, but sometimes I don’t know what the hell they’re saying.

#I just go off the vibe they’re giving #I have a dictionary open for this show #Hannibal’s trying to expand my vocabulary #but I think I’m at the max word limit in my brain #hannibal nbc #nbc hannibal #hannibal lecter #will graham #bedelia du maurier #hannibal #hannigram

[ecoamerica]

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#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[jouyato]

practice piece w/ the boys (reference+frameless below)

refed Christ Embracing St. Bernard by Francesco Ribalta but i dont have the cunty baroque colouring style. thats also where the inscription below the frame comes from.

#pentiment #alexander rappolt #kazimierz wierzbięta #i wanted to practice making a nice frame but then i gave up after a while #couldve drawn more bas relief lookin stuff up top but then the shawm was throwing off my symmetry lmao #idk i think i give up tryna work on frames lmao ill just vibe and get good at composition instead #oh also what the fuck i cant find resources for middle high german lmfao??? no comprehensive dictionary online cringe???? #idk how accurate that translation is if ur german just close ur eyes and feel my vibes #my tags are fucking paragraphs im so sorry if u opened this lol #my art

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

trying not to say anything accidentally vulgar or offensive in a foreign language you dont yet master:

#i enjoy when the dictionary tries to help you with it by adding big warnings on words #like 'fag - faggot (PEJORATIVE. OFFENSIVE!!!!!!!)' #especially enjoy that some words get 1 exclamation mark on offensive and others 2 #anyway learning a language is like stumbling through a dark house trying to find light switches while tripping over furniture #and walking into walkings left and right and behind every other door you open theres sex happening #i dont remember this from learning english but that mightve been bc i learnt at school where they mightve like just. steered us Around that #this is my biggest fear in writing french tbh that i write a sentene and someone is gonna be like oh boy thats suggestive #i didnt mean toooo #in english you can be sure i meant to #it mightve been an accident but all the same i meant to #in french im trying to turn everything as tame and clear as possible #even though it's a little boring #stages of language learning: a1 - a2 - b1 - b2 - being suggestive - making mistakes on purpose - puns

[abba-enthusiast]

Are you telling me this isn’t a motherfucking standard german word?????

#learning a foreign language is great cause you not only learn that language you also learn that words you thought were peoper german are #actually just dialect words #every time i open a dictionary the (schweizerisch) is out to get me #german stuff #bünzliposting

[neaverse]

I'm so sick of this fandom. Let people write whatever the fuck they want without throwing accusations. If you have a problem with it, go and write the fic you want. Contribute instead of complaining. We're not making any profit from fanfiction and it's not up to you to decide what I and other writers can and cannot write. If there's a lack of something, then try to resolve it by contributing instead of “forcing” other writers to do it for you. We're not machines. We're not here to create media for you to consume. It's not made for you but rather shared with you. Stop acting like you have a say in it. Don't start hating on fics if something happens and you don’t like it. It's not yours, it's ours. We're proud of it and that's all that matters. You don't have to read it— you're free to stop at any point. It's okay to not like something but it's not okay to hate on it just because it doesn't meet your expectations. It's free, stop complaining and find something else to read.

Also, stop dissecting and rating fics. It's not for you to pick apart and examine and it's so fucking disrespectful how it's become normal to share the fics you hate/dislike on social media. We are real people with real feelings. It doesn't matter that we shared it online— we do not have to accept it when people shit-talk our fics as if we won't see it because we do.

Oh, and while we're at it, learn how to use ao3. You can exclude ships and tags. It's not always that there are no fics— you just don't know how to use ao3 effectively.

#ranting with nea #I'm just so done #especially with the TikTok side of the Marauders fandom #unless a fic is seriously problematic #write whatever the fuck you want #some people clearly don't know how to open a dictionary and throw words at authors that they do not fully understand #and THATS a problem #Have your preferences and hc #no one is taking them away from you #but it's not okay to throw harmful words at people because you simply don't like something #I'm not looking to start a discussion about this #that's part of the reason why this post is kind of vague #but I think you get the gist of what I'm saying #Just… stop being shitty people when there's no reason to be #you're ruining everyone’s joy #marauders

[m0e-ru]

guy who has the audacity to think they know better than an official written and published magazine about the source's lore and world building

#kommento #// opening up the funbook to read the 'let's learn with nanako' segment and yelling at the beef steak section #// no nanako don't listen to these tour guides steak was popularized for a year NOT multiple years ago. who is writing this thing #// going to the geography section and it says it take 3 hours by train to get to a major city but in dancing it took the IT a bus to get to #// rise's city YOU FUCKING LIARS!!!!!!!!!! #// bancho took three trains to inaba and be arrived there at 4pm I thought it was pretty late but damn was tokyo that far #// okay enough girlcomplaining my kanji dictionaries just crash okay back to it ladies

[solradguy]

Today has been a day, tell you what

#textpost #I inked a little bit of the Dizzy print but it's been kind of crazy irl and I keep having to stop #Think I'm gonna call it for today and see if I can work on translations instead. Don't need as steady a hand for that #Been considering maybe cracking open one of the 4koma volumes to translate on the side #Don't need to wrangle my braincells into as coherent a coordination for those #I can almost read the any of the 4koma cover to cover without needing a dictionary #Not gonna track my progress on the 4koma if I start doing it though. They don't really feel like a project that 'needs' to be done #Just something I'll surprise do and whip out there whenever I feel like it

[nathaniacolver]

you mean 'beefy' isn't a normal adjective to describe women?

the moment i knew i was a supercorp fan fr was when i was explaining to a friend how my roommate (who is 6ft and can squat 300lbs) is 'beefy' so she obviously won the arm-wrestling competition that my other roommate mandated among all of us (except for me, bc i never let myself be coerced into anything) and my friend just goes

"...'beefy?'"

"yeah, you know, she's..." *shoulders back, arms down and flexed, wide stance*

"no i get it, but like who even says that"

#the phrase 'beefy kryptonian' is in the dictionary under 'kara zor-el' #am i wrong? #ooh there's also a photo of kara's broad freaking Shoulders and her massive Legs #out of all the biggest golden retriever gfs in western media. kara is the biggest and beefiest by far #also i'm just now finishing these tags after this nearly-finished post sat open on my laptop while i did some homework. delayed post lol #sorry i got sucked into pragmatics #kara zor el #kara danvers #supercorp #'beefy' gives me the same vibes as 'porky' #but it obviously means different things. should we advocate for 'chickenly' or 'venisonly' #on second thought perhaps the relationship is headword: beefy and definition: kara zor-el

[wingsandpetals]

is it part of a librarians job to make sure the big dictionary isn't open to the sex page do you think

#i went to the local library and didn't get any books i just read the ouran high school host club manga i found there and stared hard at a #big puzzle and opened the dictionary to the definition of sex #our post comrade. #it was cool though they said i can come back #even though they thought i was 13 i think

[volfoss]

i hate when google translate makes like. the worlds worst errors because it definitely leads me to sitting there with a japanese dictionary open and horror on my face

#twist rambles #two examples. first is when um. it was accurately saying that the iron maiden was like an “iron virgin” (bc she bleeds and has a smile on #her face. thought SURELY this wasnt it. it was). second was just now when mid battle one of the enemies hit me with a (what google told me #“eat it! sexy peeee!” and i was just flabbergasted. it was just sexy beam (one kanji off) and um. the lesson is if ur ever insane enough 2 #do something like this. please keep a dictionary open to check stuff. esp when it would have to be like this aracula has a piss kink. bc #that would have been a horrible thing to have to put in the guide. but literally insane i love experiencing every horror known to man #playing this #unsanitary #ask to tag #<- bc of the tags. but sorry i needed to share its sooo scary sometimes. im used to dealing w the finicky translation on proper nouns thats #fine but this was so much like... genuinely check archive.org for dictionaries if ur doing smth like this w no knowledge of the language #♟️

[mishkakagehishka]

Hold on i need to look at my emotional support anime boy again

#you know what at this point i might as well just open a third window that would display mika #to look at him between my dictionary sites and the word document

[softline-stickers]

i like hakata dialect boy!!! hes so everything, he looks like the brotherly type that would get along well with everyone :]

He is just a nice country boy!! He def checks in with everyone to make sure they are ok!!

#another character that is hard ro translate by the fact i need to have 3 dictionaries open jsjdj #had to read a whole essay just for it to tell me 'idk its a southern american accent' #he is very cute thooo #💌 mail

[coquelicoq]

does anybody else say "hay is for horses, cows, and sheep. too bad you're a jackass" when someone yells "hey!" at them or is that another thing my dad made up

#my dad says so many things where i'm just like oh that's normal and then i grow up and lo and behold NO ONE SAYS THAT! #but also sometimes i assume he made it up and he didn't!! #i assumed he made up hitch in my giddy-up and he did not (though i still hold that he uses it nonstandardly (to mean wedgie)) #i wasn't sure about 'can be. sure would!' but that seems to be a him original #he also loooooves malaphors. he likes to pair them: e.g. wake up and smell the roses/stop and smell the coffee #which is cute BUT. he thinks he made them up! like each of them individually but also the concept of malaphors (mixed idioms) 🙄 #though he doesn't call them that. he calls them [his name]isms (because he thinks he made them up) #one time i was trying to figure out if a term my family uses is unique to us or not and i looked it up and got a hit on urban dictionary #so i opened it and IMMEDIATELY COULD TELL THAT HE WROTE THE ENTRY. HE PUT OUR FAMILY WORD IN URBAN DICTIONARY. #katymacky if you're reading this i am REELING over the knowledge that your dad also says jean-claude pennay!!! #WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THAT FROM??? DO THEY SUBSCRIBE TO THE SAME 'DORKY DADS OF THE PNW' MAGAZINE?????? #idioms #or something idek #swears #i guess??? #really struggling with how to index this lol #fun with words #my posts #oh also i almost didn't use the oxford comma for once in my life because the cadence of this has a pause after 'horses' #and then 'cows and sheep' are kind of run together #hay is for HORSES‚ COWS and SHEEP. too bad you're a JACKASS #i actually think in this case this maybe came from my stepmother? because i don't remember him saying it until after he met her #but maybe that's just because she says HEY! a lot more than other people i would have seen him around?

[lux-astrorum]

god there are so many bad translations in the Scarlet Heart Ryeo subtitles but the worst one has to be the 만세 as "hurrah". idiot hasn't even heard of "long live the king"

#these subtitles are like if someone opened up the naver dictionary app and just took the first meaning for every word #// #scarlet heart ryeo

[woundedheartwithin]

An ash I know stands, Yggdrasil by name, a high tree, drenched with bright white mud; from there come the dews that drop in the dales, it always stands green over Destiny’s well.

The Poetic Edda, Völuspá 19 Andy Orchard’s translation, 2011

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#god of war #god of war ragnarok #environment #stags of the four seasons #yggdrasil #virtual photography #my screenshots #bellow's translation remains my favorite of the open sourced translations #but i wanted to use a different translation than one i've already used #and i like the destiny's well bit #since this game is so focused on destiny #i'd love to one day do my own translation #fun fact you actually do not need to be fluent in a language to do a translation of text #you just need a good dictionary the source material and a lot of time and patience #i did lots of text translations in college #and my prof who does translations professionally said mine were better than his and he actually speaks the language #and i most certainly did not #so i bet i could do it #like i said i'd need time tho and i do not #anyway the great ash is very special to me