Ascenders and descenders were the first major alterations, followed by twists of the tool in the basic stroke and overlapping. Specifically, around AD 600, flourishes and exaggerations of the basic strokes began to appear in more manuscripts. Word separation, however, is characteristic of later uncial usage.Īs the script evolved over the centuries, the characters became more complex.
In the oldest examples of uncial, such as the fragment of De bellis macedonicis in the British Library, of the late 1st-early 2nd century, all of the letters are disconnected from one another, and word separation is typically not used. Early forms are characterized by broad single-stroke letters using simple round forms taking advantage of the new parchment and vellum surfaces, as opposed to the angular, multiple-stroke letters, which are more suited for rougher surfaces, such as papyrus. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic, and are the current style for Coptic and Nobiin.ĭevelopment Simplified relationship between various scripts, showing the development of uncial through time.Įarly uncial script most likely developed from late rustic capitals. Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. AD 800, is lettered in a script known as "insular majuscule", a variety of uncial script that originated in Ireland. JSTOR ( April 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
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