2660: Origins of Semaphore Mar 30, 2022
Although the idea of having a system of flag-signals to represent letters for use on ships or other long-distance scenarios might seem both vital and basic, the modern semaphore system only came about in 1866. This followed the telegraph system and the optical telegraph. While the optical telegraph was useful for shore-to-ship signalling as it was a large structure and could use long mechanical arms to do so, but on ships this was impractical so people signalled with their hands, often holding flags for visual clarity. That said, by the time semaphore was introduced formally, the optical telegraph was out of use, replaced with the electric telegraph.
2659: Optical Telegraph Mar 29, 2022
Before the advent of radio, and even the electric telegraph, there was still a need to transmit specific messages short-distance, especially without the use of cables. This was particularly needed with ships, and while a lighthouse can be useful sometimes, another machine called the optical telegraph was invented. At night, a so-called shutter telegraph use panels to precisely block light in order to transmit a message in code, but during the day, semaphore telegraphs would use long mechanical arms to indicate the different letters. Some could be used to transmit messages up to 20 miles with a telescope and good weather conditions, not only to ships but to other relaying post towers. These machines were not in use very long, but they did inspire the use of other developments that followed shortly.
2658: Manual or Automatic Kerning Mar 28, 2022
Most computer programs will include features for kerning, i.e. adjusting the spacing of a print, but these may not always be as fitting as manual kerning. Computers can kern words and pages quickly and efficiently, but given how contextual this spacing may be, it may result in a visual effect that looks jarring. There are also problems of overkerning, where some letters in a word will slot together neatly, like <AV> but then the surrounding letters will not causing the word to look awkwardly spaced. If the <AVA> in the word <BRAVADO> would be set too close for instance, this would look jarring to a reading as if it's three distinct words, but without any kerning the center would look too spaced apart. Computers have a hard time recognizing what is more or less difficult to read so for expert detail, it is still often preferable to have a person behind the printing design.
2657: Problems with Kerning Computer Programs Mar 27, 2022
Kerning, the process of more deliberately spacing prints, as it related to the spacing of individual letters, can be fraught with difficulty when it is based on programs. While this helps to save space and make things look neater given that letters are not always of the same width, height etc., it can also cause issues. For instance, punctuation is notably difficult, especially when the letter has a section above the x-height that carries over to the right, like F, P, T, V, W, and Y. Many computer programs for lots of different fonts will kern the period <.> such that if fits underneath, but if there are other punctuation marks after, like <."> then these might end up overlapping with the letter due to oversight in the coded program.
2656: Kerning: The Basics Mar 26, 2022
Kerning is the process of tweaking the spacing and proportion of the individual letters in a proportional font for printing, meaning that the letters are not all uniformly sized and spaced, such as a typewriter font. There are multiple ways to do kerning, including only adjusting the spacing between pairs of letters, or looking at a text more globally to fit things neatly on full lines. As a result, there is over- and under-kerning, where the letter sets will either be too close together or too spaced apart. Before digital typing, the process of kerning on a printing press was arduous, but there are certain letter pairs, like AV most famously, that were usually kerned to not look so far apart. After digital word processors became more common, many fonts would be programed to adjust spacing for many more combinations.
2655: Long S Outside Writing Systems Mar 25, 2022
While naturally the long s ⟨ſ⟩ character was used in handwriting, print, and in ligatures, outside of specific writing systems it’s also had other functions. was the symbol of the shilling when that was part of British currency, though this has largely been replaced with a / symbol. ⟨ſ⟩ is used in mathematics for integrals, though this is a stylized form based on the italicised version /ʃ/, hence the tail at the end and no x-height nub. In the International Phonetic alphabet, the same italicised version /ʃ/ is used to represent the first found in 'SHort'.
This is the final post in a series about the long-s. To read all of them together, click here.
2654: Lingering Traces of Long S Mar 24, 2022
While usage of the long s ⟨ſ⟩ declined sharply after the start of the 19th century, but it did not totally disappear. First of all, it was used in the alphabets as its own letter—that is, not as a variant of 'S'—such as in various writing systems of Slavic and Caucasian languages even into the early 20th century; Turkmen used it for its Latin script as its own letter before that was replaced with 'ž'. Moreover, it is still found as a ligature making up the German ß (sz) though this has long been considered its own letter.
Moreover, outside of specific writing systems, it was the symbol of the shiling when that was part of British currency, though this has largely been replaced with a / symbol. ⟨ſ⟩ is used in mathematics for integrals, though this is a stylized form based on the italicised version /ʃ/, hence the tail at the end and no x-height nub. In the International Phonetic alphabet, the same italicised version /ʃ/ is used to represent the first found in 'SHort'.
2653: Decline of Long S Mar 23, 2022
Like the decline of other letters in English history, the death blow to the long-s ⟨ſ⟩ was printing. Unlike other letters like ⟨Ð,ð⟩ or ⟨Æ, æ⟩ that died in English even earlier because the first printing presses were from Flanders and Germany where those symbols weren't present, ⟨ſ⟩ was used in German and indeed most European scripts. This allowed the character to survive into the very beginning of the 18th century, but extra cost for casting more types as well as extra effort for printers both in selection and in kerning made this a less appealing choice. Around this time, casters stopped making them and many prominent publishers didn't use them which normalized the practice. In Handwriting, the practice persistent for another half-century or so, but was eventually not emphasized in schools and went by the wayside as well.
2652: Style & Nub of the Long S
The long s ⟨ſ⟩ has a nub on the left side of it when typed. This is a lingering tradition from the blackletter typeface. While this nub likely made it easier to space for printing, it did make it more easily confused for the letter ⟨f⟩. The reason for the nub was not only stylistic though, aside from Italic fonts where it wasn't present, it alleviated the need to employ kerning. Kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing of letters when they would be bound to overlap or be too far apart when uniform, and there will be more on this topic here at a later date.
2651: Long S Rules Mar 21, 2022
In printing, as well as handwriting since the time of the Romans, there was a so-called 'long s' which appeared ⟨ſ⟩. This was not a random variant or a font of ⟨s⟩, but has its own rules about when it is used instead. In the 17th & 18th centuries, these were the standards for printing
• Round S ⟨s⟩ was always used before ⟨f⟩, before apostrophes, and at the ends of words.
•Long S ⟨ſ⟩ was always used in the beginning or middle including when the word was broken up with hyphens or abbreviated.
• If there were two successive S's, the first would be long and the last would be round. Some letters were known to usually be preceded by a long or round s, like ⟨b⟩ that usually has a round s.
2650: Long S Mar 20, 2022
There is something called the long s ⟨ſ⟩, which people may be familiar with from printed documents before the 19th century especially. This is often confused with an ⟨f⟩ on first glance, but the two are unrelated. The long s, distinguished from the 'round s', dates back to Roman times at the time the upper & lower case letters were being distinguished, but before there were clear rules about them. The Greek sigma also is unique in the Greek alphabet for having three forms, and represents broadly the same sound, but that's not related. This was later formalized in German printing especially. After the start of the 18th century, it became phased out as it was harder for typists, required an extra letter in print types, and was not seen as providing enough benefit to account for the extra work. There will be more on the form & history of the long s in coming posts.
2649: Laryngitis Mar 19, 2022
Most people will have experienced losing their voices, but they may not know everything that is going on with that. Laryngitis, which maybe sounds more severe than it really is, may be caused by a viral infection, irritation, or overuse, but normally doesn't last more than a week. This causes the larynx to become inflamed and will distort the normal sound of air as it travels out. Particularly voiced sounds, which involve the larynx vibrating, may be more hoarse sounding.
2648: sondern, sunder, & sine Mar 18, 2022
The German for 'especially' is 'besonders', and more commonly as the preposition meaning 'but rather; except is 'sondern'. The basic root also is used for compound-nouns to mean 'private'. This is related to the English 'sunder' meaning 'to separate' but in Old English the word also meant 'special; particular'. Still, lots of Indo-European languages have words with this root that mean 'only' or 'without' like the Latin 'sine' and all its derivatives like French 'sans' and Portuguese 'sim'.
2647: Nubō as a (Generally) Female Verb Mar 17, 2022
The word 'nuptial' comes from a verb in Latin that denotes wedding but specifically refers to a woman taking a husband. For instance, the each spouse would use different verbs to describe the wedding, such as:
A woman saying "virō nūbō" (I marry a man)
A man would say "dūcō uxōrem" (I marry a woman), though typically 'dūcere' means 'to lead', and 'nubō' can also be related to veiling, as a woman would do at a wedding.
This dichotomy maybe influenced its descendants like 'nubile' to also be specifically feminine.
2646: nuptial Mar 16, 2022
The word nuptial meaning 'of wedding' has a fairly simple etymology, from the Latin 'nuptialis', literally 'of a wedding'. Beyond that, things are more complicated, since it is unclear the exact root, and what it would be related to, though it is probably from the Proto-Indo-European root *sneubh- meaning "to wed". An early theory put this as a cognate with the Latin 'obnubere' (to veil) from 'nubes' (cloud) but this has been rejected. It may also be related to the word 'nymph' (in Greek νύμφη) which means 'bride' or indeed the mythical nymph, but this is also not certain. It is definitely related to 'nubile; nubility', which denotes a marriageable woman.
2645: Hittite Gender: Animate & Inanimate Mar 15, 2022
Hittite, like many Indo-European languages has two grammatical genders, though most linguistics used to refer to this not with 'masculine' and 'feminine' but as 'masculine' and 'neuter'. This might sound strange to people who have encountered a neuter in languages like Latin, German, Icelandic, or Greek, it is usually presented as a third option, but this doesn't have to be so. First of all, nothing is inherently related to human sex when it comes to grammatical gender. In the case of Hittite, the genders are now sometimes referred to as animate and inanimate, or common and neuter. Basically, one category in Hittite contains the words for male and female beings, while the other does not. That said, plenty of words exist in this masculine/animate gender that are neither living nor sexed, like 𒃾𒅖 (wiyanis) meaning 'wine'.
2644: The Cut of His Jib Mar 14, 2022
The phrase "the cut of one's jib" is a strange one, because few people actually know what a jib is. The specific etymology of the word jib is not clear, but for the purposes of the phrase it refers to a particular type of triangular sail on the front of a ship. These were standard among various navies in different ships, so knowing the shape and rigging of the jib would be a quick indication of which vessel and which type of vessel it was. This meaning was applied to people in the 19th century, with the same idea of judging one's face and overall appearance, possibly especially one's nose.
2643: maverick Mar 13, 2022
A maverick now probably refers to someone who is unconventional and individualistic, but the more traditional definition is an unbranded calf. That said, the word is fairly new, coming from a Texan cattle rancher Samuel Maverick who was known for not branding his calves. The term was used since the mid 19th century but popularized by his grandson in the 1930's, representative Maury Maverick, who served in the US congress.
2642: The Village of Å: Places with Only One Letter Mar 12, 2022
A town in Wales changed its name to have the longest place-name in Europe , but there are many places vying for the spot as the shortest. The French township of Y, over a dozen villages across Norway and Sweden each called Å meaning 'brook', as well as Ö in Sweden meaning 'island'. There are a number of other place names or names of geographic features, especially rivers, with only one letter, each of which is a vowel, though none of these are major settlements and one does have to stretch the definition of a place name in some cases to include them. It is certainly rare.
2641: Derivatives of Latin Plumbum (Lead) Mar 11, 2022
The Latin name for the metal lead is plumbum, hence the symbol on the periodic table of Pb. This word is borrowed from another pre-Indo-European language in the Italian peninsula like Etruscan. It is also where numerous other words and expressions come from in English. For instance, the word 'plummet' as in 'fall straight down', and pipes, even in Ancient Rome were often lead hence 'plummer'. More obviously like 'plumb' meaning 'straight' (e.g. "it hit him plumb in the jab"), or the stance of the batsman's legs in front of the wicket in cricket, since lead at the end of a plumb-line was used to keep a rope taut when held straight up. As a result of the meaning of 'straight', it also means 'truly; plainly' as in "the fish plumb swam away".