# How did capital letters come to exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656 "2008-04-02T11:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/1 "2008-04-02T11:17:29Z")
You can express everything you want with a single case of letters; who came up with lower and upper case and why? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/2 "2008-04-02T11:22:44Z")
No expert but surely it is like all punctuation - it makes it easier to read and extract meaning. In this case by - in English - marking the beginning of sentences and words that are proper nouns. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/3 "2008-04-02T11:34:17Z")
Should also have added that - I believe - capitals came first and lower case letters developed from them as being quicker and easier to write in about the 3rd century BC (for ancient Greek). ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/4 "2008-04-02T11:37:42Z")
Yes, the caps came first. LATIN WAS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS. They are (supposedly) easy to carve in stone, but lacking ascenders and descenders, are wearying on the eye. RUSSIAN ONLY HAS CAPITALS, I THINK. As to where we got lower cases letter, I know I knew that once, but I seem to have forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/5 "2008-04-02T11:37:48Z")
Capitals are the original form (so your question should be “How did lower case letters come to exist?”.) Lower case letters were devised by scribes at Charlemagne’s court, I believe because they could be written more quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/6 "2008-04-02T11:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=Windwalker] You can express everything you want with a single case of letters… [/QUOTE] ‘You can do it less elaborately than this’ isn’t really a consideration for much of what humans do - indeed taking what existed before and doing it _more elaborately_ is quite normal - so in addition to lower case letters, we have calligraphy, illuminated manuscripts, typography… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/7 "2008-04-02T13:33:56Z")
[QUOTE=Windwalker] Youcanexpresseverythingyouwantwithasinglecaseofletterswhocameupwithloweranduppercaseandwhy? [/QUOTE] For the same reason they developed spacing between words and various forms of punctuation, both of which came along much later. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/8 "2008-04-02T13:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Yes, the caps came first. LATIN WAS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS. They are (supposedly) easy to carve in stone, but lacking ascenders and descenders, are wearying on the eye. RUSSIAN ONLY HAS CAPITALS, I THINK. As to where we got lower cases letter, I know I knew that once, but I seem to have forgotten. [/QUOTE] in Russian the capitalisation is mostly by size alteration, e.g. Йй Цц Нн apart from some odd ones such as А а ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/9 "2008-04-02T13:45:35Z")
Neither Hebrew nor Arabic have capital letters. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/10 "2008-04-02T14:08:48Z")
Majuscules, as has been stated, are the original forms and are considered most suitable for carving in stone. Minuscule (lower case) letters developed from handwritten forms that eventually became the Carolingian minuscules. But up until this point, the minuscules were considered merely a variety of script. A scribe (or the scribe’s employer) chose a script to write whatever needed to be written. The interesting question is really, who decided that majuscules and minuscules were two different things that could then be combined? Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Burmese, Cambodian, Thai, Tibetan, Armenian, Ethiopian, and the Indian scripts also don’t differentiate between majuscules and minuscules. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/11 "2008-04-02T15:20:38Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] in Russian the capitalisation is mostly by size alteration, e.g. Йй Цц Нн apart from some odd ones such as А а [/QUOTE] And Russian cursive has some quite distinct letterforms between capitals and small letters. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/12 "2008-04-02T15:29:23Z")
IFYOUREADANCIENTROMANINSCRTIPTIONSTHEYALLLOOKLIKETHIS. We invented stuff to make stuff easier to read. You’d have thought they would bother to invent spaces between words, at least, though. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/13 "2008-04-02T15:35:59Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Neither Hebrew nor Arabic have capital letters. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but Arabic letters have different forms depending on where they are located in the word (first letter, middle, last). Sort of like cursive writing for the Roman alphabet, but a bit more complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/14 "2008-04-02T16:27:23Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Yeah, but Arabic letters have different forms depending on where they are located in the word (first letter, middle, last). Sort of like cursive writing for the Roman alphabet, but a bit more complicated. [/QUOTE] Hmm, you’re right - Hebrew also has a few letters with alternate forms, but only for the ends of words, never the beginning ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/15 "2008-04-02T16:51:42Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] The interesting question is really, who decided that majuscules and minuscules were two different things that could then be combined? [/QUOTE] Manuscripts after the Caroliginian Renaissance commonly had illuminated captial letters leading off sections, and important words were often written in a larger size or otherwise made distinctive in handwritten MSS. I think most writers ended up adapting these flourishes as a conventional capitalization rule in their own texts, a notion the printing press solidified. However, the variance of capitalization rules between languages–my understanding is the German, for example, capitalizes all nouns–makes me think capitalization was a relatively informal process well into the printed era: Every writer/publisher more or less followed their own standards which became somewhat formalized by the circle of native speakers they were writing for. BTW Alcuin is usually credited with “inventing” the minuscules, but it was clearly a development of many scholars in or around the court of Charlemagne over a considerable period of time. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/16 "2008-04-02T16:59:47Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Hmm, you’re right - Hebrew also has a few letters with alternate forms, but only for the ends of words, never the beginning [/QUOTE] Hmm, I didn’t know that. I used to be able to read Hebrew, but it’s lost now. There isn’t a cursive form of Hebrew, is there? A few of the letters are just modified when written alone at the end of the word? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/17 "2008-04-02T18:01:38Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] IFYOUREADANCIENTROMANINSCRTIPTIONSTHEYALLLOOKLIKETHIS. We invented stuff to make stuff easier to read. You’d have thought they would bother to invent spaces between words, at least, though. [/QUOTE] They did use spaces, little dots between words, or both : > **[Picture/Photo: Inscription in Latin with the SPQR letters of the Ancient...](https://www.terragalleria.com/europe/italy/roma/picture.ital7348.html)** > > Inscription in Latin with the SPQR letters of the Ancient Roman Empire. Rome, Lazio, Italy,Part of gallery of color pictures of Europe by professional photographer QT Luong, available as prints or for licensing. [![](http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/museum/4.JPG) ](http://rubens.anu.edu.au/htdocs/surveys/museum/4.JPG) [http://www.davidthedesigner.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/22/trajan.png](http://www.davidthedesigner.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/22/trajan.png) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/18 "2008-04-02T19:31:11Z")
Depends. The [Greeks](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1223/836430629_b929137cf8.jpg) didn’t use spaces or dots on inscriptions, although there looks to be something similar to a comma or semicolon I don’t recognize. And neither Greek nor Latin [manuscripts](http://www.und.edu/instruct/cjacobs/PapyrusFragments-main.html) used spaces, although the Greek one seems to have periods. With both Greek and Latin, we’re talking about a thousand years and almost as many regions, so general statements are usually wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/19 "2008-04-02T19:51:17Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Hmm, I didn’t know that. I used to be able to read Hebrew, but it’s lost now. There isn’t a cursive form of Hebrew, is there? A few of the letters are just modified when written alone at the end of the word? [/QUOTE] Both of you are right. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656/20 "2008-04-02T20:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] There isn’t a cursive form of Hebrew, is there? [/QUOTE] There [is.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_cursive) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-capital-letters-come-to-exist/443656.md?page=2)