Medieval abbreviation for gens [actually, igitur]

Question

I came across an abbreviation in a text that I'd like to typeset as diplomatically as possible, but I've come across an abbreviation for gens that I'm not entirely sure how it's being abbreviated (regrettably, the quality of the scan isn't very good either). The incunable was published in Spain in the late 15th century and is a biblical commentary.

I've checked in Cappelli's dictionary of abbreviations, but there isn't an G + superscript letter or G + symbol that means gens. Here's the letter in context (and a transcription)

ſuſpitio: qꝛ in egypto fuerũt ſemꝑ maximi malefici ⁊ incãta-
toꝛes ⁊ in oĩ arte peſſimꝫ eruditi: poſſet [?] ꝺici ꝺe xp̃o ꝙ ibi ꝺi
diciſſet artẽ magicã. Et oẽ genꝰ maleficij ꝑ qd̃ faceret miracu-

It doesn't like an n (for which I naively would anyways expect g̃), but I feel like it could just as easily be an e or an s over it, that is, gͤ or gᷤ. What could it be? It's used frequently in the text, but the abbreviation mark, be it letter or diacritic, seems to be unique to this word.

Answer 1

As mentioned in a comment, Cappelli 1.54 lists several possibilities.

I disagree, however, that this is "gͥ" (g with an i superscript). To my eye, it looks much more like a g with an o superscript, which comes out to ergo. An "o" does a much better job explaining the "e" shape (at least in the provided scan) than an "i."

Note that there is at least one error with the "literal" transcription you provided: at the end of pessima, the last letter is an a, not a "3-sign."

A more standard transliteration of the whole passage:

suspicio, quia in Aegypto fuerunt semper maximi malefici et incanta-
tores et in omni arte pessima eruditi: posset ergo dici de Christo quod ibi di-
dicisset artem magicam. Et omne genus maleficii per quod faceret miracu-

Answer 2

Here are examples from an earlier, insular, manuscript (Oxford CCC 122) which led me to think that this siglum is not gens, but igitur.
Perge igitur ad from an Insular manuscript:

Videamus igitur quomodo... (fr Alea Evang.)

In the following line there are three superscripts. The 'o' changes 'seventy-two' to 'seventy-second;' 'u' superscript t, is simply ut; and the tilde over the p is an fairly unusual abbreviation for 'prae' in 'praediximus.'

In this manuscript ergo siglum has a clear 'o' superscript in place of 'i.'
Cum ergo natus esset IHS (from Mt2:1)

There are three reasons for thinking your siglum stood for igitur.
.1.frequent occurence.
.2.occuring second word in the clause.
.3.finally, the excerpt, after describing the number of magicians in Egypt, continues: "...it might be possible for it to be stated concerning Christ that in that place he was instructed in magic arts." The argument suggested 'so,' 'hence,' 'therefore.'
.4. the marks are more easily explained as a chunky 'i' with displaced dot cut on the printer's steel punch, than as a faulty 'o'.

Here either Ergo or Igitur would be suitable; my manuscript consistently preferred igitur; Duns Scotus, for example, prefers ergo. You could hedge your bets and state that it is unclear. The problem could be solved by searching for a passage where your source quotes ergo or igitur in the Gospel which he is commenting on. The final Chapter of Matthew would settle it.

Answer 3

I felt like image-editing tonight and I put together some abbreviations from pages 147 and 148 of Cappelli (1973, anastatic reprint of the 1929 edition), to compare them with the siglum in question.

These are all the relevant sigla listed there. Note the last one for igitur: it’s g^r, not gⁱ, it comes from 15th-Century Rome, and I find it particularly convincing.

However, this is not enough for me to cast my vote for igitur with 100% certainty. In this case, igitur and ergo are almost synonyms, so you have really no problem to understand what is being said, and my advice is to go on to find further examples of either igitur or ergo, which might be clearer and would be helpful to settle the question.

OTOH, I agree with Brianpck’s other observation, that we have omni arte pessima here, and not peſſimꝫ = pessimorum.