Incipit

Before the development of titles, texts were often referred to by their incipits, as with for example Agnus Dei. During the medieval period in Europe, incipits were often written in a different script or colour from the rest of the work of which they were a part, and "incipit pages" might be heavily decorated with illumination. Though the word incipit is Latin, the practice of the incipit predates classical antiquity by several millennia and can be found in various parts of the world. Although not always called by the name of incipit today, the practice of referring to texts by their initial words remains commonplace.

Historical examples

Sumerian

In the clay tablet archives of Sumer, catalogs of documents were kept by making special catalog tablets containing the incipits of a given collection of tablets.

The catalog was meant to be used by the very limited number of official scribes who had access to the archives, and the width of a clay tablet and its resolution did not permit long entries. An example from Lerner (1998):

Honored and noble warrior
Where are the sheep
Where are the wild oxen
And with you I did not
In our city
In former days

Hebrew

Many books in the Hebrew Bible are named in Hebrew using incipits. For instance, the first book (Genesis) is called Bereshit ("In the beginning ...") and Lamentations, which begins "How lonely sits the city...", is called Eykha ("How"). A readily recognized one is the "Shema" or Shema Yisrael in the Torah: "Hear O Israel..." – the first words of the proclamation encapsulating Judaism's monotheism (see beginning Deuteronomy 6:4 and elsewhere). All the names of Parshiyot are incipits, the title coming from a word, occasionally two words, in its first two verses. Each book is, of course, called by the same name as the first Parashah within it.

Some of the Psalms are known by their incipits, most noticeably Psalm 51 (Septuagint numbering: Psalm 50), which is known in Western Christianity by its Latin incipit Miserere ("Have mercy").

In the Talmud, the chapters of the Gemara are titled in print and known by their first words, e.g., the first chapter of Mesekhet Berachot ("Benedictions") is called Me-ematai ("From when"). This word is printed at the head of every subsequent page within that chapter of the tractate.

In rabbinic usage, the incipit is known as the "dibur ha-matḥil" (דיבור המתחיל), or "beginning phrase", and refers to a section heading in a published monograph or commentary that typically, but not always, quotes or paraphrases a classic biblical or rabbinic passage to be commented upon or discussed.

Many religious songs and prayers are known by their opening words.

Sometimes an entire monograph is known by its "dibur hamatḥil". The published mystical and exegetical discourses of the Chabad-Lubavitch rebbes (called "ma'amarim"), derive their titles almost exclusively from the "dibur ha-matḥil" of the individual work's first chapter.

Ancient Greek

The Lord's Prayer (found in Matthew 6: 9–13), whose King James Version translation begins with "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name...", is often referred to simply as Our Father.

The final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation, is often known as the Apocalypse after the first word of the original Greek text, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis "revelation", to the point where that word has become synonymous with what the book describes, i.e., the End of Days (ἔσχατον eschaton "[the] last" in the original).

Classical Arabic

Many surahs in the Quran, are named after their incipit, such as Ta-Ha (#20), Ya-Seen (#36), Abasa "He frowned" (#80), Alam Nashrah "Bared We not" (#94). In fact in the early days of Islam, especially during the lifetime of Muhammad, surahs were often referred to by their incipit rather than a formal title.

Medieval Europe

Incipits are generally, but not always, in red in medieval manuscripts. They may come before a miniature or an illuminated or historiated letter.

Church documents

Traditionally, conciliar documents, papal bulls and encyclicals, documents issued under the authority of the Pope, are referenced by their Latin incipit.

Hindu texts

Some of the mantras, suktas from the hymns of the Vedas, conform to this usage.