Roman Half-Uncial: Letter Forms

New Letter Forms

There are some completely new letter forms:

Roman Uncial a has been replaced by what we would recognise as a 'handwriting' a. The downstroke which completes it curves slightly: this will become a marked curve in the next script, Insular Half-Uncial (Insular Majuscule).
Roman Uncial 'capital' B has been replaced by a simplified one-bow letter like our 'lower-case' b.
Roman Uncial G has been replaced by a flat-topped letter Anglo-Saxonists will recognise as a version of 'yogh'.
Roman Uncial R has been pulled apart into a whip-shaped cursive r. This will eventually end up as our 'handwriting' r.
Warning: do not mix it up with n!
Roman Uncial s has been replaced by an arched letter, like F, but without the crossbar.
Warning: do not mix it up with f! The vertical of s sits on the base-line: that of f drops slightly below it.
Contrary to the general trend, Roman Uncial curved d has been replaced by a straight-backed letter we would recognise as 'lower-case' d.

Overall, the letter forms have become almost entirely like our 'lower-case' forms, save that

Roman Uncial N has been retained: the only difference is that the downstrokes are now wide, and the diagonal narrow, as we would expect from the way we write it.

Return to Question Page.

© MEG TWYCROSS 1998