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| The History of u and v (2) |
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| In the document hands and later cursive book hands, the forms of u and v remain similar, but the less formal method of writing without little adornments to the tops and bottoms of vertical elements can reduce the letters made from minims to a series of incomprehensible wiggles, especially in fully cursive hands where the letters are connected. This is not so apparent when the letters are dissected out as shown here. It becomes increasingly common to use a different form of the letter, whether as a vowel or consonant, at the beginning of a word. As this is a relatively uncommon occurence, the absence of this form from a specific example does not necessarily mean that it does not occur in the script type. This occurs in both Latin and vernacular languages. Calligraphic flourishes added to the letter when used at the beginning of a word can add to the confusion.
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In this formal protogothic example of a document hand from the 12th century, only the rounded Caroline minuscule form of u or v is found. |
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In a less formally scribed writ of the reign of Henry II, both forms are present. The usual form found within a words is reduced to simple open loops, while the form for the beginning of a word is angular, with a tall flourish. |
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A calligraphic charter of the 13th century has produced only a neat rounded form of u or v with little blocky tops and bottoms to the verticals. |
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In this example of cursiva
anglicana, which first appeared in the 13th century, only the rounded form of u or v is present. This particular example shows how an informally written example of the letter can be easily confused with an n. |
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In this formal ecclesiastical charter of the 13th century, only the rounded form of the letter appears, but in this case carefully written so as not to be confused with other letters. |
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In this example of the formal English chancery hand of the 13th century, based on cursiva anglicana, the rounded form of u or v appears in simplified form. The angular form found at the beginning of a word has an extended flourish that forms the letter into a closed loop. |
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This example from an early 13th century writ produces two simple and cursive forms, being created from a single wiggly line. At the beinning of a word it sports a simple upward flourish. |
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This 14th century example from a French cursive document hand displays only one form of u or v, in a very cursive open style that could be either u or n. The language in this example is French. |
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This 14th century example of English book hand displays only one form of u or v. The language of this example is English. |
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This example from an English 15th century charter uses only a very informal and cursive wiggly line, which could be confused with a number of letters in its context. |
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In another 15th century charter, the more common version is also just a wiggly line, while the form at the beginning of a word is angular with a curling loop over it. |
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This formal and mannered version of French bâtarde script used as a book hand uses a simple, angular Gothic version of u or v. The form for the beginning of words is rounded with a sort of reverse flourish, derived from the cursive form but made formal. |
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This late 15th or early 16th century French cursive book hand employs both types of u or v with very similar forms to the previous example. |
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In the later English chancery hand, as shown here from an Elizabethan document of conservative penmanship and formal quality, both varieties of u or v have become somewhat mannered. The usual form looks more like an n than a u, while the form for the beginning of words has a big curly tall closed loop that makes it look somewhat like a b. |
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This genealogical document of late 15th or early 16th century only a cursive angular form of u or v. This is an English language document. |
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In this endorsement on a mid 15th century petition to the English chancery, u or v is reduced to a minimalist squiggle. |
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Humanistic book hands, as usual, reverted to the neat, rounded, carefully written form derived from Caroline minuscule, becoming clear and easy to read. |
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In this example from a 15th century Italian book hand, only one form of u or v is present, and that is a clearly delineated rounded form. |
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This 16th century example dates from after the advent of printing. There are two forms of the letter, which look to us like differentiated u and v, but this is an illusion. The rounded form is used for both letters in the middle of words, while the angled form is used at the beginning of words. |
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| The letters u and v can cause some confusion, partly because they are not differentiated graphically, even in languages other than Latin which employ different sounds for them. The other main problem is their capacity for disguise amongst other letters in both formal Gothic book hands and cursive scripts. A related issue is how to render them in transcription. Do you modernise the spelling, render them all as u, or transcribe them as u or v depending on what they actually look like? It would seem that even among the most scholarly of authors, different conventions are adhered to and I guess the main thing is to decide your own policy and be consistent with it. I have tended in these exercises to just use u when it is Latin, but that is because the purpose of this website is to teach the reading of scripts, so I am being very literal. What you see is what you get. If I was doing a literary edition, I think I would use u and v in their modern sense so that they didn't distract from the reading. On the other hand, with English and French I tend to do it for sense rather than precise form. No doubt the issue could be debated long and earnestly. |
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 Histories of Individual Letters |
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History of Scripts |
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| What is Paleography? |
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