Titulus
Titulus
(Russian titlo), in ancient and medieval Greek, Latin, and Slavic manuscripts, a superscript character written over an abbreviated word to indicate the omission of one or more letters. In Old Russian and Slavic manuscripts, the titulus originally resembled a straight line: —,-—, or ~; the number of variations later increased. The titulus was usually written in frequently used words, such as 
for 
(“son”) and 
for 
(“god”); it was also used for letters written above the line, for example, 
for 
(“month”). The titulus was always used to mark letters with numerical value. The graphic variants of the titulus serve as paleographic evidence in the dating of a manuscript.