The general impression is rounded, weighty, even, and fluent.

The rounded effect is created by:

• an aspect ratio which is effectively square, not flattened like its predecessor, though like Artificial Uncial, the distribution of width on the bows makes the inside space oval:

  	o is roughly 1:1,		c is roughly 1:1,
  	e is roughly 1:9,		while m is roughly 1:146.

• Several of the uprights which were straight (or had a slight sway) in the earlier script have become curved:

  Roman Half-Uncial
  Insular Half-Uncial

However, the letters look balanced because of the triangular serifs at the top. This distributes the weight of the letter more evenly about the vertical.

It looks weighty because:

• Verticals look more marked because of the proportions of the letters, and because of the heavy triangular serifs which are a major characteristic of this script:

  Roman Half-Uncial
  Insular Half-Uncial

• Ascenders and descenders are relatively short in proportion to the body of the text, which gives it a majuscule look, even though it is not strictly a majuscule script, contained between the head- and base-lines. Some writers call it Insular Majuscule,
  

  and the ends of the ascenders and descenders are often slanted.

It looks even because

• the letters are contained tidily between the head- and base-lines. However, curved letters like s, c, p, and r overflow slightly:
  

The 'fluent' effect is created because:

• Letters are interwoven. This 'joined-up writing' makes it the most challenging of the scripts so far to transcribe, not because the individual letter forms are particularly difficult or unusual, but because it is sometimes difficult to disentangle one letter from the next. There are two ways in which this interweaving is managed:
  • Head-strokes (on t), cross-strokes (on e), and base-strokes (on f) are protracted to touch the letters next to them:

    This reads Et profetis (line 14). Here the cross stroke of the e has been pushed up to the head-line, so that it merges with the head-stroke of the t.

  • Curved letters are linked to contiguous letters:

    This reads quae scribta (line 13).

  The combination of unfamiliar letter-shapes and conjoinings produces some misleading effects:

  	This reads hic aliquid (line 6).
  	The o+c-shaped a can look like a cc, while the open-bowed d can look like c+l.
  	This reads at illi (line 7).
  	The t and the following i could be mistaken for a modern 'handwritten' a.

  If you are confused, pick the sequence to pieces letter by letter. See for example the sequences at the beginning of lines 10 and 4:

Return to Question Page.

© MEG TWYCROSS 1999