3 ms·
That shouldn't be too surprising. The technology used deeply influences writing. In the Latin alphabet, the upper case forms developed from the forms of lette
by retrac 4y ago
That shouldn't be too surprising. The technology used deeply influences writing. In the Latin alphabet, the upper case forms developed from the forms of letters used in stone and metal, with monumental carvings. While lowercase evolved from the kind of writing done with pen or brush on parchment or papyrus. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot more straight lines amenable to carving into stone in the upper case letters.
As I understand it, printed f and long S looked very much alike, and the usual tweaks in handwriting to make it clear weren't really easy in print. So they just dropped it altogether. One less letter required in the typeface, too.
- codersfocus 4y agoThe origins of the Latin alphabet are interesting too: miners in Egypt who didn't want to learn all the hieroglyphics decided to start using some of them phonetically, creating an alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_script https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_script
- TylerE 4y agoTrue classical latin didn't have lower case. Initial letters were written marginally larger, but what we'd now (mostly) think of as uppercase is what all the letters looked like.
- teddyh 4y agoThat’s called “Small caps”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps
- TylerE 4y agoNo it isn't. From the first sentence of the link, my emphasis: > with glyphs that resemble uppercase letters (capitals) but reduced in height and weight close to the surrounding lowercase letters or text figures.[1] T
- kazinator 4y agoIt sounds more akin to a drop capital. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial
- kazinator 4y agoAmazing how we inherited concepts in philosphy, politics, art and other areas FROM A CIVILIZATION THAT SHOUTED IN CAPS.