Long i ( la, i longum or '' itterai longa''), written , is a variant of the letter i found in ancient and

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

forms of the Latin script.

History

In inscriptions dating to the early

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

, it is used frequently but inconsistently to transcribe the

long Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensu ...

vowel . In Gordon's 1957 study of inscriptions, it represented this vowel approximately 4% of the time in the 1st century CE, then 22.6% in the 2nd century, 11% in the 3rd, and not at all from the 4th century onward, reflecting a loss of

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

vowel length by this time (one of the

phonological changes from Classical Latin to Proto-Romance As Latin developed into Proto-Romance it experienced numerous sound changes, a rough summary of which is provided below. General changes * /h/ is lost without a trace in all positions. **If this results in a collision of identical short vowels, ...

). In this role it is equivalent to the (also inconsistently-used)

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex, ...

, which can appear on any long vowel: . An example would be , which is generally spelled today, using macrons rather than apices to indicate long vowels. On rare occasions, an apex could combine with long i to form , e.g. . The long i could also be used to indicate the semivowel e.g. or , the latter also , pronounced . It was also used to write a close

allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in '' ...

of the short i phoneme, used before another vowel, as in , representing . Later on in the late Empire and afterwards, in some forms of New Roman cursive, as well as pre-

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

scripts of the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

such as

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaul ...

, it came to stand for the vowel in word-initial position. For example, , which would be in modern spelling.

In Unicode

The character exists in Unicode as U+A7FE , , having been suggested in a 2006 proposal.

Examples

Scriptura con apices Nimes 1750.jpg, Roman inscription, ''ca.''

AD 100 __NOTOC__ AD 100 ( C) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was sometimes referred to as year 853 ''ab urbe condita'', i.e., 853 years since the founding ...

, showing long i's contrasting with apices on other vowels, for example in line 3 (besides other words), representing the vowel . Ara a Tibério Cláudio MNArqueologia.tif, Roman inscription, ''ca.'' AD 45, showing a use of the long i letter for the close sound of Latin short ĭ before a vowel: . Roman grave inscription, AD 69, long i with apex.jpg, Roman inscription, ''ca.''

AD 69 AD 69 ( LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 822 ''Ab urbe condita ...

, showing a rare use of long i with an apex in line 1, . I_littera_in_manuscripto.jpg, Roman letter in Old Roman cursive, ''ca.'' AD 50 from

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

' reign, showing handwritten long i's: ''rebus iis · iúdicibus'' (line 2), ''imponátur qui · intrá'' (line 3). New Roman Cursive i longum, 6th century.png, Manuscript samples in New Roman cursive from the 6th century. Top: ''quantum s(upra)s(cripto) emptori interfuerit''. Bottom: ''tenentes igitur palestini''. Lectionnaire de Luxeuil i longum 80v 81r.png, Manuscript samples in Merovingian script from ''ca.'' AD 700. Top: ''et inponunt in umeros hominum''. Bottom: ''in synagogis · et salutationis in foro''. Codex Vigilanus, Vigila scriba, folio 22v.jpg,

Codex Vigilanus The ''Codex Vigilanus'' or ''Codex Albeldensis'' (Spanish: ''Códice Vigilano'' or ''Albeldense'') is an illuminated compilation of various historical documents accounting for a period extending from antiquity to the 10th century in Hispania. ...

, from the late

10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 ( CMI) through 1000 ( M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium. In China the Song dynasty was established. The Muslim World experienced a cultural zenith, ...

in Visigothic script, folio 22v, preface of Vigila the scribe (pictured). The first line contains three examples of long i: ''in exordio igitur hui ''.

History

In Unicode

Examples

References

See also