• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Odds / Why Do We Have Both Capital and Small Letters?

Why Do We Have Both Capital and Small Letters?

April 25, 2020 by Karen Hill

The alphabet we use today, the Roman, had only capital letters for many centuries after it came into use in ancient Rome. But those big, angular letters were not good for writing quickly with a pen.

So by the 4th century, scribes had developed another set of letters, called uncials, that were smaller and more rounded, and were therefore easier to write than the earlier capitals. But these smaller letters were used instead of the capitals, not along with them.

By the 8th century, scribes had developed another set of letters, based on the uncials. These letters were called minuscules. They were smaller and easier to write than any other letters used before that. Then in the 15th century, Italian scribes developed a writing based on these earlier minuscules.

This writing is called Italian script. We use it today for our “small” letters, while using the older big letters for our “capitals.”

Related Facts

  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World
  • History of Typewriters
  • The Best 20 Inventions Ever Invented
  • How did Gutenberg print the Bible with the movable type printing press?
  • What is the Shortest English Sentence Ever Created Using All the Letters of the Alphabet?

Filed Under: Odds

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « How Many Instruments Are There in an Orchestra?
Next Post: Why Is Z the Last Letter in Our Alphabet? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy