# Claudian letters

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Three new letters of the Latin alphabet introduced by Roman Emperor Claudius

Claudian letters, with the  variant of *antisigma* supported by manuscripts of Priscian.[1]

Claudian letters with the Ↄ variant of *antisigma*.

Claudian [pomerium](/source/Pomerium) marker, where written words *amplia**v**it* and *termina**v**it* use turned digamma (highlighted in red)

The **Claudian letters** were a set of three new letters for the [Latin alphabet](/source/Latin_alphabet) developed by the [Roman emperor](/source/Roman_emperor) [Claudius](/source/Claudius), who reigned the Roman Empire from the year [41](/source/AD_41) to the year [54](/source/AD_54). These letters, according to the emperor, were much needed for the language, although they did not outlast his reign.

## *Antisigma* (Ↄ)

"Ↄ" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Latin letter [Open O](/source/Open_O) (Ɔ) or the Greek letter [reversed lunate sigma](/source/Reversed_lunate_sigma) (Ͻ).

**Ↄ** or **/X** (*antisigma*) to replace BS [\[bz\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Latin) and PS [\[ps\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Latin), much as [X](/source/X) stood in for CS [\[ks\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Latin) and GS [\[ɡz\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Latin). The shape of this letter is disputed, however, since no inscription bearing it has been found. [Franz Bücheler](/source/Franz_B%C3%BCcheler) identified it with the variant [Roman numeral](/source/Roman_numerals) Ↄ,[2] but 20th-century philologists, working from copies of [Priscian](/source/Priscian)'s books, believe it to instead resemble two linked Cs (Ↄ+Ϲ), which was a preexisting variant of Greek [sigma](/source/Sigma), and easily mistaken for X by later writers. [Revilo P. Oliver](/source/Revilo_P._Oliver) argued that Claudius would have based this letter upon the Arcadian variant of [psi](/source/Psi_(letter)) or .[1]

As noted, no examples of this letter from the time have been discovered; its usage must be guessed at. It would probably replace the PS or BS sequence in Latin words, especially those with Greek etymology, such as *DYSPEↃIA* (*dyspepsia*), *EPILEↃIA* (*epilepsia*), *ↃALMVS* (*psalmus*), or *VRↃ* (*urbs*).

## *Digamma inversum* (Ⅎ)

"Turned F" redirects here. Not to be confused with [Reversed F](/source/Reversed_F) or a [Voiced palatal plosive](/source/Voiced_palatal_plosive) /ɟ/ in IPA.

**Ⅎ**, a turned F or [digamma](/source/Digamma) (*digamma inversum*) to be used instead of the letter V when denoting the consonantal phoneme [[w](/source/Voiced_labial%E2%80%93velar_approximant)] or [[β](/source/Voiced_bilabial_fricative)].[2] Thus, it resembles the use of the letter [V](/source/V) in modern Latin texts, where the vocalic use of the letter V is represented by its variant [U](/source/U), which has been recognized as a different letter only later.

**Examples of Ⅎ:** *AMPLIAℲIT* (*ampliavit*), *ARℲALES* (*arvales*), *ARℲALIVM* (*arvalium*), *BOℲE* (*bove*), *IOℲI* (*Iovi*), *TERMINAℲITQVE* (*terminavitque*), *VOℲIMVS* (*vovimus*), *ℲELINA* (*Velina*), *ℲIR* (*vir*), *ℲOℲEMVS* (*vovemus*).[3][4]

## Half H (Ⱶ)

Not to be confused with [Heta](/source/Heta) (Ͱ). See also: [Reversed half H](/source/Reversed_half_H)

**Ⱶ**, a half H, probably had the name /ʉː/ in harmony with other vowels. The value of this letter is unclear, but it may have represented the so-called *[sonus medius](/source/Sonus_medius)*, a short vowel sound, likely [[ʉ](/source/Close_central_rounded_vowel)], but it could have also been [[ɨ](/source/Close_central_unrounded_vowel)]. It was used before [labial consonants](/source/Labial_consonant) in Latin words such as *optumus* and *optimus*. The letter was later used as a variant of [[y](/source/Close_front_rounded_vowel)] in inscriptions for short Greek [upsilon](/source/Upsilon) (as in *Olympicus*). It may have disappeared because the *sonus medius* itself disappeared from spoken language.[1][*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

**Examples of Ⱶ:** *BⱵBLIOTHECA* (*bibliotheca*), *CⱵCNVS* (*cycnus*), *MAXⱵMVS* (*maximus*), *OPTⱵME* (*optime*), and once in *GⱵBERNATOR* (*gubernator*).[3][5]

## Usage

These letters were used to a small extent on public inscriptions dating from Claudius' reign, but their use was abandoned after his death.[6] Their forms were probably chosen to ease the transition, as they could be made from templates for existing letters. He may have been inspired by his ancestor [Appius Claudius](/source/Appius_Claudius_Caecus) the [Censor](/source/Roman_censor), who made earlier changes to the Latin alphabet.[7] Claudius did indeed introduce his letters during his own term as censor (47–48), using arguments preserved in the historian [Tacitus](/source/Tacitus)' account of his reign, although the original proclamation is no longer extant. [Suetonius](/source/Suetonius) said of Claudius' letters:

Besides this he [Claudius] invented three new letters and added them to the alphabet, maintaining that they were greatly needed; he published a book on their theory when he was still in private life, and when he became emperor had no difficulty in bringing about their general use. These characters may still be seen in numerous books, in the [state] registers, and in inscriptions on public buildings.[8]

Assuming that the letters were added at the end of the alphabet, just like [Y](/source/Y) and [Z](/source/Z) were, and that the order of these 3 letters does not matter, the Latin alphabet with these letters would look like this:

Classical Latin alphabet with the additional Claudian letters Letter A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z Ↄ Ⅎ Ⱶ IPA /a/ /aː/ /b/ /k/ /d/ /e/ /eː/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /i/ /iː/ /j/ /k/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /o/ /oː/ /p/ /k/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /u/ /uː/ /ks/ /gz/ /y/ /yː/ /z/ /ps/ /bz/ /w/ /ɨ ~ ʉ/

Support for the letters was added in version 5.0.0 of [Unicode](/source/Unicode).[9] Although these letters, as all Latin letters in antiquity, originally occurred only in capital form, lowercase forms were introduced to meet Unicode casing requirements.[9] The minuscule form for the turned F was designed as a turned small capital F and should not be confused with the [IPA](/source/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) symbol [ɟ](/source/Voiced_palatal_plosive) representing a voiced palatal stop.

The letters are encoded as follows:

Description Letter Unicode HTML Script TURNED CAPITAL F TURNED SMALL F Ⅎ ⅎ U+2132 U+214E Ⅎ ⅎ Latin ROMAN NUMERAL REVERSED ONE HUNDRED LATIN SMALL LETTER REVERSED C Ↄ ↄ U+2183 U+2184 Ↄ ↄ Latin LATIN CAPITAL LETTER HALF H LATIN SMALL LETTER HALF H Ⱶ ⱶ U+2C75 U+2C76 Ⱶ ⱶ Latin

## See also

- [Chinese characters of Empress Wu](/source/Chinese_characters_of_Empress_Wu)

- [Reversed half H](/source/Reversed_half_H) – Letter of the Latin alphabet

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-oliver_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-oliver_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-oliver_1-2) Oliver, Revilo P. (1949). "The Claudian Letter Ⱶ". *American Journal of Archaeology*. **53** (3): 249–257. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/500662](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F500662). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [500662](https://www.jstor.org/stable/500662). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [193082268](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:193082268).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Bücheler_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Bücheler_2-1) [Bücheler, Franz](/source/Franz_B%C3%BCcheler): *[De Ti. Claudio Caesare Grammatico](https://books.google.com/books?id=lSg9AAAAcAAJ)* at [Google Books](/source/Google_Books) (Latin), Elberfeld (Germany) 1856

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_3-1) Wordsworth, John. *Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin*. Clarendon Press, 1874. p. 9.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** E. Gordon, Arthur. *Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy*. University of California Press, 1983. p. 118. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780520050792](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780520050792).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** P. Oliver, Revilo (1949). ["The Claudian Letter I"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/500662). *American Journal of Archaeology*. **53** (3). University of Chicago Press: 249–257. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/500662](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F500662). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [500662](https://www.jstor.org/stable/500662).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Tacitus](/source/Tacitus), *[Annals](/source/Annals_(Tacitus))* 11[10]:14

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Ryan, F. X. (1993). "Some Observations on the Censorship of Claudius and Vitellius, A.D. 47–48". *American Journal of Philology*. **114** (4): 611–618. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/295428](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F295428). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [295428](https://www.jstor.org/stable/295428).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Suetonius pass](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html), Loeb Classical Library edition, 1913‑1914, English translation is by J. C. Rolfe. [Page 77, paragraph 41](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html#p75). (From [LacusCurtius](/source/LacusCurtius))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-L2-05-193R2_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-L2-05-193R2_9-1) [Michael Everson](/source/Michael_Everson) (2005-08-12). ["Proposal to add Claudian Latin letters to the UCS"](https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05193r2-n2960r2-claudian.pdf) (PDF). *Unicode Technical Committee, Document L2/05-193R2 = ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2, Document N2960R2*. Retrieved 2021-12-27.

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