answersLogoWhite

0

Leonardo da vinci used "mirror writing" --but that is only what we call it now.

So, his private notes are read "backward" (right-to-left)---- but that is probably just the natural way for a young left-handed person to write. Especially to keep his hand out of the ink! And especially if this writing was only notes to himself! Leonardo often wrote directions to himself as if he were another (3rd) person.

While it was long thought that he wrote 'backwards' to disguise his experiments, that is no longer believed true. When he was making maps of construction diagrams for presentation to others, for instance, he lettered them left-to-right. Sometimes, he paid scribes to write letters for him --- again, left-to-right. His own left-to-right handwriting (which would be 'backwards' to him) was shaky and hard to read (even for a Leo scholar). Try it yourself-- its very hard.

Leonardo also used his own symbols for a variety of often-used combinations of 2-3-4 letters-- sort of like making up a new letter for 2 letters you use a lot-- like ◊ for "ste". He also often left-out articles (like "the", of", and "for"), but so do many Italian writers. So, it is not enough to simply read his Italian in a mirror--- one who wishes to read Leo's notebooks first-hand must know Leo's symbols, too!

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago

What else can I help you with?