Dictionary of Meaning

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Minuscule

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'''Minuscule''', or '''lower case''', is the smaller form (case (orthography) case) of letters (in the Roman alphabet: ''a'', ''b'', ''c'', ...). Originally alphabets were written entirely in majuscule (capital) letters which were spaced between well-defined upper and lower bounds. When written quickly with a pen, these tended to rounder and simpler forms, like uncials. It is from these that the first minuscule hands developed, the half-uncials and cursive minuscule, which no longer stay bound between a pair of lines. These in turn formed the foundations for carolingian minuscule, developed by Alcuin for use in the court of Charlemagne, which quickly spread across Europe. Here for the first time it became common to mix both majuscule and minuscule letters in a single text. The word itself is often spelt '''miniscule''', by association with the unrelated word ''miniature'' and the prefix ''mini''. This is traditionally regarded as a spelling mistake, but is now so common that dictionaries tend to accept it as a spelling variation. However, ''miniscule'' is still less likely to be used for minuscule letters. The term "lower case" comes from manual typesetting. Since minuscules were more frequent in text than majuscules, typesetters often stored them on the lower shelf of a desk to keep them in easy reach.

History
Traditionally, more important letters - those beginning sentences or nouns - were made larger; then they were written in a different script, although there was no fixed capitalization system until the early 18th century (and even then all nouns were capitalized, a system still followed in German language German but not in English language English). Similar developments have taken place in other alphabets. The minuscule script for the Greek alphabet has its origins in the seventh century and acquired its quadrilinear form in the eighth century. Over time, uncial letter forms were increasingly mixed into the script. The earliest dated Greek minuscule text is the Uspenski Gospels (MS 461) in the year 835. The modern practice of capitalizing every sentence seems to be imported (and is commonly not used when printing Ancient Greek materials even today). The Samaritan alphabet has also had minuscule letters, which makes it relatively unusual among abjads, which—including Hebrew alphabet Hebrew, Syriac alphabet Syriac and Arabic alphabet Arabic—tend to be written without case.

Usage
In scripts with a letter case case distinction, minuscules are generally used in most texts, and for most of any given text, with majuscules reserved for emphasis and special contexts.

See also
* minuscule numeral * Lowercase (music) Category:Alphabetic writing systems Category:Typography als:Minuskel da:Minuskel de:Minuskel eo:Minusklo fr:Bas-de-casse nl:Onderkast no:Minuskel pl:MinuskuÅ‚a sv:Gemener uk:ÐœÑ–Ð½ÑƒÑ?ÐºÑƒÐ» zh:å°?å¯«å—æ¯?

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