Allusionist 9: The Space Between

I know this is a show about words, but forget the words for a moment; look at the spaces between the words. Without the spaces, the words would be nigh incomprehensible. Dr Kate Wiles explains the history of the space. Visit theallusionist.

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I know this is a show about words, but forget the words for a moment; look at the spaces between the words. 

Without the spaces, the words would be nigh incomprehensible. And yet, they're a relatively recent linguistic innovation. Dr Kate Wiles explains how English got its spaces.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

• See Ogham in a manuscript and Ogham on a stone.

• Look at these tasty runes on the Franks casket.

• Here's an Anglo-Saxon manuscript, whose scribe has got to grips with spaces.

• The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/spaces.

• Aargh, look at this mess of Latin before spaces:

View fullsize

Hooray for spaces!

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
nombril

CREDITS:

• Dr Kate Wiles is contributing editor at History Today and soon will be helming their podcast. Her website is katewiles.wordpress.com and she tweets as @katemond.

• This episode was presented and produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick.

• Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Come back in a fortnight for the next episode, space cadets!

- HZ