Editing Roman cursive (section)

== Old Roman cursive ==
[[File:I littera in manuscripto.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Old Roman cursive handwriting from the reign of [[Claudius]] (41 to 54 AD), with every ''[[long I|i longum]]'' transcribed as "j": <br>...uobis · ujdetur · p[atres] · c[onscripti] · decernámus · ut · etiam <br>prólátis · rebus ijs · júdicibus · necessitas · júdicandi <br>jmponátur quj · jntrá rerum · agendárum · dies <br>jncoháta · judicia · non · peregerint · nec <br>defuturas · ignoro · fraudes · monstróse · agentibus <br>multas · aduersus · quas · excogitáuimus · spero...]]

Old Roman [[cursive]], also called [[majuscule]] cursive and capitalis cursive, was the everyday form of handwriting used for writing letters, by merchants writing business accounts, by schoolchildren learning the [[Latin alphabet]], and even by [[Roman Emperor|emperors]] issuing commands. A more formal style of writing was based on [[Roman square capitals]], but cursive was used for quicker, informal writing. Most inscriptions at [[Pompeii]], conserved due to being buried in a volcanic eruption in AD 79, are written in this script.

It is most commonly attested from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD,<ref name="ox_vindolanda">Oxford, [http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/exhibition/paleo-1.shtml Scripts at Vindolanda] [http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/exhibition/paleo-2.shtml page 2] [http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/exhibition/paleo-3.shtml page 3]</ref> but it likely existed earlier than that.  The script uses many [[ligature (typography)|ligatures]] (see, e.g., [[Tironian notes]]), and some letters are hard to recognize – "a" looks like an [[Uncial script|uncial]] "a", but with the left stroke still straight, "b" and "d" are hard to distinguish, "e" is a full height letter (like the "s"), "p" and "t" are very similar, and "v" is written above the baseline, resembling a floating [[breve]].<ref name="ox_vindolanda"/>  Many of the changes to the letters in Roman cursive were likely motivated by a desire to make the usage of ligatures easier. The letter "b" in Roman cursive contains a semicircular protuberance on its left side; this design feature may have been added in an attempt to conform to the needs of ligatures.<ref name=":0" />

The distinctive [[Ductus (linguistics)|writing style]] of Roman cursive emerged as the design of letters became simplified in colloquial contexts. Throughout the progression of Roman cursive, the number of strokes required to inscribe differing letters was significantly reduced. Roman cursive writing connected the strokes of differing letters to facilitate writing without lifting the writing utensil. The angles of standard letters were written as curves in Roman cursive due to ease of tracing curvatures with contemporary [[calligraphy]] tools. Curves in Roman cursive were smaller than curves in standard Latin calligraphy; this is likely because smaller curves are easier to trace than larger ones.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=De Robertis |first=Teresa |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/38645 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Latin Paleoepigraphy |date=November 10, 2020 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor-last=Coulson |editor-first=Frankk |pages=39-59 |language=en |chapter=Old Roman Cursive |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195336948.013.36 |editor-last2=Babcock |editor-first2=Robert |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/38645/chapter-abstract/335474130?redirectedFrom=fulltext}}</ref>