The Latin quotation in the title of this article is taken from the Admonitio generalis, a key document of Charlemagne’s reforms circulated in 789. In a well-known passage, to which the title refers, Charlemagne calls for the establishment of schools and adds a set of subjects that might be interpreted as the school curriculum. The whole passage has caused quite a few problems for scholars on account of its seemingly corrupt grammar and ambiguous vocabulary. In this article, I revisit the term ‘nota’ and provide some new insights in how it should be understood. I argue that the graphic symbols meant by this term include manuscript abbreviations, shorthand as well as technical signs, such as the critical signs to be found in Carolingian pandect Bibles.