The
Develop¬
ment of
Writing

THE ROMAN ALPHA BET.—The Alpha¬
bet, as we know it, begins with the ROMAN
CAPITALS1 (see fig. 2). Their fine monumental
forms were evolved by the use of the chisel

Ä

Fig. 2.

probably under the influence of writing—and had
reached full development about 2000 years ago (see
Plates I, II, and Chapter XV).

FORMAL WRITING—the “ book-hand ” or
professional writing of the scribes—comes of the
careful writing of the Roman Capitals (see also
footnote, p. 4, on the beginnings of fine penmanship).
It was the—

“ literary hand, used in the production of exactly
written MSS., and therefore a hand of comparatively
limité use. By its side, and of course of far more
extensive and general use, was the cursive hand of the
time ”2

1 “The alphabet which we ese at the present day . . . . is
directly derived from the Roman alphabet : the Roman, from a
local form of the Greek ; the Greek, from the Phoenician. . . .

It had been supposed that the Phoenician came from the
Egyptian hieratic, but “Recent discoveries prove the existence, in
very remote times, in ull quarters of the Mediterranean and in
Egypt, of symbols resembling certain alphabetical signs and pre¬
ceding even the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The early origin of our
alphabet therefore still remains to be worked out. —Sir Edward
Maunde Thompson, “ Greek and Latin Paleography, 3rd edition
(1906), pp. I, 3*t.

* Ibid.. p. 196.

2

In early cursive writing—the running-hand or
ordinary writing of the people—

“The Letters are nothing more than the old Roman
letters written with speed, and thus undergoing certain
modifications in their forms, which eventually developed
into the minuscule handI’1 (See fig. 3.)

R?

Caps.

Cursive IVritùur
l.toV CeietP

"Minus¬
cule "

A

АД ^сЛ

a dà
a

E

(teer л

e

Ç

%

H

.н-HH h lì

h

Fig. 3.

Here it is sufficient to trace the history of the
formal Latin “ hands,” but the continual, modifying
influence exerted on them by the ordinary cursive
writing should be borne in mind. Notable results of
this influence are seen in Half-TJncials and Italics.

SQUARE CAPITALS were formal, pen-made
Roman Capitals, of the monumental type: they
were used (perhaps from the second) till about the

. L' Paleography,” p. 204. (Minuscules = “small

letters, not capitals : conf. printer’s “lower-case.” Half-Uncials
are sometimes distinguished as “round minuscules,” p. 266, below.)

3

The
Develop¬
ment of
Writing