Editing Visigothic script (section)

{{Short description|Type of medieval script}}
{{about|the 7th–13th-century script originating among the Goths of the Iberian Peninsula|the 4th-century alphabet of the Gothic Bible|Gothic alphabet}}
{{no-footnotes|date=November 2015}}
{{MOS|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox writing system
| type        = Alphabetic
| name        = Visigothic script
| altname     = {{lang|la|littera mozarabica}}, {{lang|la-x-medieval|littera toletana}}
| sample      = AlfabetoVisigodo.png
| caption     = Alphabet in Visigothic script
| image size  = 350px
| alt         = 
| languages   = [[Medieval Latin]]
| time        = 7th century to 13th century
| status      = 
| fam1        = [[Latin script|Latin]]
| fam2        = [[Uncial]]
| children    = 
| sisters     = [[Beneventan script|Beneventan]], [[Merovingian script|Merovingian]]
| unicode     = 
| direction   = left to right
| region      =  Iberian Peninsula
}}

'''Visigothic script''' was a type of [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[script (styles of handwriting)|script]] that originated in the [[Visigothic Kingdom]] in [[Hispania]] (the [[Iberian Peninsula]]). Its more limiting alternative designations {{lang|la|littera toletana}} and {{lang|la|littera mozarabica}} associate it with [[scriptorium|scriptoria]] specifically in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and with [[Mozarab|Mozarabic culture]] more generally, respectively.

The script, which exists in [[book-hand]] and [[cursive]] versions, was used from approximately the late seventh century until the thirteenth century, mostly in [[Visigothic Iberia]] but also somewhat in the [[Catalans|Catalan]] kingdom in current [[southern France]]. It was perfected in the 9th–11th centuries and declined afterwards. It developed from [[uncial]] script, and shares many features of uncial, especially an uncial form of the letter {{angbr|g}}.

[[File:Visigothic Z-C cedille.svg|thumb|200px|right|Evolution from Visigothic Zet {{angbr|Ꝣ}} to modern {{angbr|Ç}}]] 
Other features of the script include an open-top {{angbr|a}} (very similar to the letter {{angbr|u}}), similar shapes for the letters {{angbr|r}} and {{angbr|s}}, and a long letter {{angbr|i}} resembling the modern letter {{angbr|l}}. There are two forms of the letter {{angbr|d}}, one with a straight vertical [[ascender (typography)|ascender]] and another with an ascender slanting towards the left. The top stroke of the letter {{angbr|t}}, by itself, has a hook curving to the left; {{angbr|t}} also has a number of other forms when used in [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]], and there are two different ligatures for the two sounds of {{angbr|ti}} (“hard” or [[Assibilation|unassibilated]] and "soft" or [[Assibilation|sibilated]]) as spoken in Hispano-[[Latin]] during this period. The letters {{angbr|e}} and {{angbr|r}} also have many different forms when written in ligature. Of particular interest is the special Visigothic z {{angbr|ꝣ}}, which, after adoption into Carolingian handwriting, eventually transformed into the [[c-cedilla]] {{angbr|ç}}.
[[File:Chronicle of 754, London, Egerton 1934, fol. 2r.jpg|thumb|Folio 2''r'' of the [[Chronicle of 754]]]]

A capital-letter [[Display typeface|display script]] was developed from the standard script, with long slender forms. There was also a [[cursive]] form that was used for charters and non-religious writings, which had northern ("Leonese") and southern ("Mozarabic") forms. The Leonese cursive was used in the [[Christians|Christian]] north, and the Mozarabic was used by Christians living in the [[Muslim]] south. The cursive forms were probably influenced by [[Roman cursive]], brought to Iberia from [[North Africa]].

Visigothic script has many similarities with [[Beneventan script]] and [[Merovingian script]].
{{charmap
| A762 | name1 = LATIN CAPITAL LETTER VISIGOTHIC Z
| A763 | name2 = LATIN SMALL LETTER VISIGOTHIC Z
| 00C7 | name3 = LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
| 00E7 | name4 = LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA
}}