extend (v) ________________________________________

attain, gain (v) _____________________________________

common, regular (adj) _______________________________

Read the text and do the tasks after it.

The medium for writing was ink, generally a mixture of oak gall and copper vitriol. Originally black, ink made north of the Alps sometimes shows a reddish-brown hue, while that made in Italy may contain tinges of brown and yellow. Over the centuries most of these colours have lightened as a result of atmospheric conditions. The Byzantine emperors used purple ink for their signatures. This custom was occasionally taken over by the Lombard rulers of Italy and, later, by the Norman kings of Sicily. Another custom of Byzantine origin is the use of gold lettering.

Throughout the entire Roman Empire, the language used in documents was primarily Latin. Greek was also used, and, during the latter part of the 6th century AD, it slowly superseded Latin in the East. From then onward, Greek was the language of Byzantine documents until the end of the Byzantine Empire (1453). In the West, the collapse of the empire and the establishment of barbarian kingdoms led to a vulgarization of Latin, written as well as spoken.

Latin has always been used for papal documents and for most public and private charters, and it was used for international documents well into post-Renaissance times, until it was superseded by French as the language of diplomacy. In public and private documents, use of the vernacular alongside Latin gradually developed. Apart from its early and unique appearance in the documents of the Anglo-Saxons in England, no vernacular was used in charters before the 12th century. At the Norman Conquest (1066), use of Anglo-Saxon in English documents soon stopped, and no more vernacular was used there until some Norman French was introduced in the 13th century, and Middle English in the 15th century. There was an increasing use of the vernacular in Italian and French documents from the 12th century and in Germany from the 13th; but in medieval times Latin was never outstripped by the vernacular.

1. Answer the following questions:

1) What was ink made of?

2) What colour was ink?

3) What languages were documents written on?

4) What caused the vulgarization of Latin?

5) What documents were written in Latin?

6) In what countries was vernacular used?

2. Find the English equivalents for the following words:

средство / золотое тиснение / цвет, оттенок (3 слова) / заменить (2 слова) / выцвести / происхождение / весь / падение, крах / основание

3. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right:

4. Make nouns from the following verbs:

5. Say what part of speech are the following words. Translate them into Russian. Make your own sentences with these words:

➢ generally _______________

➢ originally _______________

➢ occasionally _______________

➢ primarily ________________

➢ slowly ________________

➢ gradually ________________

➢ early ________________

Read the text and do the tasks after it.

A correct assessment of the hand in which it was written is vital to ascertaining the provenance and authenticity of a document. Thus, the knowledge of paleography, different styles of ancient writing, is a skill essential to diplomatics. The broad basis of such knowledge begins with acquaintance with the general styles of writing current at particular times and places.