Editing Visigothic script

{{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
}}

==See also==
*[[Verona Orational]]

==Further reading==
* [https://www.typofonts.com/LATIN_PALEOGRAPHY.pdf 'Fonts for Latin Paleography: User's Manual. 6th edition'] A manual of Latin paleography; a comprehensive PDF file containing 82 pages profusely illustrated, 4 January 2024).
* [http://litteravisigothica.com Littera Visigothica, blog specialized in Visigothic script]
* [http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/examples/visigoth.htm Visigothic Minuscule on Medieval Writing]
*{{cite book
 | last = Muñoz y Rivero
 | first = Jesús
 | title = Paleografía visigoda: método teórico-práctico para aprender a leer los códices y documentos españoles de los siglos V al XII; obra ilustrada con 45 láminas dibujadas por el autor (Visigothic Paleography: A Theoretical-Practical Method for Learning to Read Spanish Codices and Documents from the 5th to 11th centuries; Illustrated with 45 Figures Drawn by the Author)
 | url = https://archive.org/details/paleografavisi00mu
 | year = 1919
 | publisher = D. Jorro
 | location = Madrid
 | language = es
}}

* {{ cite journal
	| last = Alturo Perucho
	| first = Jesús
	| title = La escritura visigótica. Estado de la cuestión
	| journal = Archiv für Diplomatik
	| location = Viena
	| year = 2004
	| issue = 50
	| pages = 347–386
	| issn = 0066-6297
        | language = es
	| url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2430586 }}
* {{cite journal 
|last1=Castro Correa |first1=Ainoa |title=Leaving the Past behind, Adapting to the Future: Transitional and Polygraphic Visigothic-Caroline Minuscule Scribes |journal=Anuario de Estudios Medievales |date=2020 |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=631–664 |doi=10.3989/AEM.2020.50.2.01|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Castro Correa |first1=Ainoa |title=Dating and placing Visigothic script codices: A quick guide for beginners |journal=Le livre et l'écrit: Le manuscrit médiéval: Texte, objet et outil de transmission |date=2021 |issue=2 |pages=7–35}}
* {{ cite book
	| last = del Camino Martínez
	| first = Mª del Carmen
	| title = Los orígenes de la escritura visigótica
	| location = Madrid-Toledo
	| year = 1990
	| pages = 29–37
        | language = es
	| isbn = 84-7094-111-9  }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Díaz y Díaz
	| first = Manuel
	| title = Libros y librerías en la Rioja altomedieval
	| publisher = IER
	| location = Logroño
	| year = 1979
        | language = Spanish <!-- 	| url = http://www.vallenajerilla.com/legadomedievalnajera/librosbibliotecasnajera.htm --> }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Díaz y Díaz
	| first = Manuel
	| title = Códices visigóticos en la Monarquía leonesa
	| publisher = CSIC
	| location = León
	| year = 1983 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Millares Carlo
	| first = Agustín
	| author-link = Agustín Millares Carlo
	| title = Consideraciones sobre la escritura visigótica cursiva
	| location = León
	| year = 1973 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Millares Carlo
	| first = Agustín
	| author-link = Agustín Millares Carlo
	| title = Tratado de Paleografía Española
	| url = https://archive.org/details/tratadodepaleogr0001mill
        | url-access = registration
        | author2 = con la colaboración de José Manuel Ruiz Asencio
	| publisher = Espasa Calpe
	| location = Madrid
        | language = es
	| year = 1983
	| isbn = 84-239-4986-9 }}
* {{ cite journal
	| last = Mundó
	| first = Anscari M. 
	| title = La datación de los códices litúrgicos toledanos
	| journal = Hispania Sacra
        | language = es
	| volume = XVIII
	| year = 1965
	| issn = 0018-215X }}
* {{ cite journal
	| last1 = Mundó
	| first1 = Anscari M. 
	| last2 = Alturo Perucho
	| first2 = Jesús
	| title = La escritura de transición de la visgótica a la carolina en la Cataluña del siglo IX
	| journal = Actas del VIII Coloquio del Comité International de Paléographie Latine
	| location = Madrid-Toledo
        | language = es
	| year = 1990
	| pages = 131–138
	| isbn = 84-7094-111-9 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Núñez Contreras
	| first = Luis
	| title = Manual de Paleografía
	| publisher = Cátedra
        | language = es
	| location = Madrid
	| year = 1994
	| isbn = 84-376-1245-4 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Rodríguez Díaz
	| first = Elena E.
	|trans-title=Los manuscritos mozárabes: una encrucijada de culturas
	| title = Die Mozaraber. Definitionen und Perspektiven der Forschung
        | language = de
	| publisher = Lit
	| location = Münster
	| year = 2011
	| isbn=978-3-643-11117-3 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last1 = Selig
	| first1 = Maria
	| last2 = Frank
	| first2 = Barbara
	| last3 = Hartmann
	| first3 = Jörg
	| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2X9yWoUodaQC&pg=PA128 
	| title = Le passage à l'écrit des langues romanes
	| publisher = Gunter Narr Verlag
        | language = fr
	| year = 1993
	| isbn = 9783823342618 }}
* {{ cite book
	| last = Velázquez Soriano
	| first = Isabel
	| title = Las pizarras visigodas. Edición crítica y estudio
	| series = Antigüedad y Cristianismo: Monografías históricas sobre la Antigüedad Tardía
	| location = Murcia
        | language = es
	| publisher = Universidad de Murcia
	| year = 1989
	| issn = 0214-7165 }}

{{European calligraphy}}
{{list of writing systems}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Latin-script calligraphy]]
[[Category:Medieval scripts]]
[[Category:Western calligraphy]]
[[Category:7th-century introductions]]
[[Category:Writing systems introduced in the 1st millennium]]
[[Category:13th-century endings]]
[[Category:Southern France]]
[[Category:Visigothic Kingdom]]
[[Category:Mozarabic art and architecture]]
[[Category:Medieval history of Spain]]