Step 7 of 10

Correcting a mistake

Fig. 1 - Tombstone with Latin inscription - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - [LKA 1126](https://hdl.handle.net/21.12126/58366) — Fig. 1 - Tombstone with Latin inscription - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - LKA 1126

The word ANNIS ("years") misses an N. The stone reads ANIS. Perhaps the misspelling can be explained by the abbreviation AN for ANNIS, which is common in inscriptions. We can see this for example on another tombstone in the museum from Turkey (fig. 1). But the odd shape of the N suggests that something else is going on.

The stretchy N may point at an error by the mason. It seems as if he began to cut another A and then noticed that he made a mistake. What would you do in such a case? Erasing is hardly an option on stone.

The mason decided to turn the A into a very wide N. After this correction, he noticed that there was not enough space left on the line for adding another N and therefore only added -IS.

But why did he not use the abbreviation AN instead? Probably because the text of inscriptions was usually aligned. Only AN XV was not enough to fill out the second line.