Crossword clues for uncial
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Uncial \Un"cial\,
[L. uncialis amounting to the twelfth part of a pound or a foot, from uncia the twelfth part of a pound or of a foot, an ounce, an inch: cf. F. oncial. See Inch a measure.] Of, pertaining to, or designating, a certain style of letters used in ancient manuscripts, esp. in Greek and Latin manuscripts. The letters are somewhat rounded, and the upstrokes and downstrokes usually have a slight inclination. These letters were used as early as the 1st century
, and were seldom used after the 10th century a.
, being superseded by the cursive styl
Uncial \Un"cial\, n. An uncial letter.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1640s, "pertaining to an ounce," from Latin uncialis "of an inch, of an ounce," from uncia "a twelfth part" (see inch (n.1)). In reference to letters, it is attested from 1712, from Late Latin litterae unciales (Jerome), probably meaning "letters an inch high," from Latin uncialis "of an inch, inch-high." As a noun, "an uncial letter," from 1775.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 a. (context rare English) Of or relating to an ounce, or an inch, especially to letters printed an inch high. Etymology 2
a. Of or relating to a majuscule style of writing with unjoined, rounded letters, originally used in the 4th–9th centuries. n. 1 A style of writing using uncial letters. 2 A letter in this style. 3 A manuscript in this style.
WordNet
adj. relating to or written in majuscule letters (which resemble modern capitals); "uncial letters"
n. a style of orthography characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; found especially in Greek and Latin manuscripts of the 4th to 8th centuries
Usage examples of "uncial".
The uncial letters, as they are termed, appear to have arisen as writing on papyrus or vellum became common, when many of the straight lines of the capitals, in that kind of writing, gradually acquired a curved form, to facilitate their more rapid execution.
The most ancient uncial ink writing extant, belongs to the fourth century, whilst the earliest mixed uncial and miniscule writing pertains to the sixth century.
For the rest, it measured ten and a half inches in length by seven in width, was about a quarter of an inch thick, and densely covered on the convex side that lay towards the bottom of the box with writing in the later uncial Greek character, faded here and there, but for the most part perfectly legible, the inscription having evidently been executed with the greatest care, and by means of a reed pen, such as the ancients often used.
Prince or Pharaoh from whom his wife Amenartas was descended, I am not sure, nor can I tell if it was drawn upon the sherd at the same time that the uncial Greek was inscribed, or copied on more recently from the Scarab by some other member of the family.
Also on the right-hand side of this surface of the sherd, painted obliquely in red on the space not covered by the uncial characters, and signed in blue paint, was the following quaint inscription:-- IN EARTH AND SKIE AND SEA STRANGE THYNGES THER BE.
The first in uncial Greek was by Tisisthenes, the son to whom the writing was addressed.
This, also written in black letter, we found inscribed on a second parchment that was in the coffer, apparently somewhat older in date than that on which was inscribed the mediaeval Latin translation of the uncial Greek of which I shall speak presently.
And now there remained but one more document to be examined--namely, the ancient black-letter transcription into mediaeval Latin of the uncial inscription on the sherd.
Elegant uncial lettering in a clear, bold hand of the tenth or eleventh century, the words not in Latin but in a heavily Latinate Catalan, which I automatically translated.
The space behind the desk was paneled in a good approximation of golden English oak, and all the informational signs were done in uncial script, with illuminated initial letters after the Book of Kells.
The most important are Codex Sinaiticus, which is the only complete New Testament in uncial letters, and Codex Vaticanus, which is not quite complete.
When he came back he was holding a bundle of rain-spotted foolscap sheets that were covered on both sides with his neat uncial script.
There was an inscription on the barrel in squat uncial letters, but it was written in what looked like Welsh.
Bodleian library there is a third example, written in quarto with large uncial letters in double columns, in much the same style as the book given by Parker to Corpus Christi.
Epistles, a Livy in uncial characters, and the precious fragments of the Vatican Virgil, which he gave to Fulvio Orsini in his lifetime.