Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to a style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters and found especially in Greek and Latin manuscripts of the fourth to the eighth century AD.
  • noun A style of writing characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters. It provided the model from which most of the capital letters in the modern Latin alphabet are derived.
  • noun A capital letter written in this style.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to an ounce. In paleography, noting that variety of majuscule character, or writing, usually found in the earlier manuscripts, as opposed to the later minuscule, or cursive.
  • noun An uncial letter; also, uncial letters collectively; uncial writing.
  • noun A manuscript written in uncials.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An uncial letter.
  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or designating, a certain style of letters used in ancient manuscripts, esp. in Greek and Latin manuscripts. The letters are somewhat rounded, and the upstrokes and downstrokes usually have a slight inclination. These letters were used as early as the 1st century b. c., and were seldom used after the 10th century a. d., being superseded by the cursive style.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, or relating to a majuscule style of writing with unjoined, rounded letters, originally used in the 4th–9th centuries.
  • noun A style of writing using uncial letters.
  • noun A letter in this style.
  • noun A manuscript in this style.
  • adjective rare Of, or relating to an ounce, or an inch, especially to letters printed an inch high.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a style of orthography characterized by somewhat rounded capital letters; found especially in Greek and Latin manuscripts of the 4th to 8th centuries
  • adjective relating to or written in majuscule letters (which resemble modern capitals)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Late Latin ūnciālēs (litterae), inch-high (letters), uncials, pl. of Latin ūnciālis, inch-high, from ūncia, a twelfth part, ounce, inch; see oi-no- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Attested 1650, from Latin uncia ("one twelfth part, ounce, inch").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Attested 1712, from Late Latin unciales ("uncials"), unciales litterae ("uncial letters") (Jerome), plural of uncialis ("pertaining to one twelfth part, ounce, or inch"), from uncia ("one twelfth part, ounce, inch"). The literal meaning is unclear: some references indicate "inch-high letters", but see “Uncial script” in Wikipedia.

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