# Initial > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Initial > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Initial.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial > Source revision: 1356245523 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Oversized first letter in a text block "Initials" redirects here. For the first letter of a person's given name or middle name or both, see [Given name § Initials](/source/Given_name#Initials). For other uses, see [Initial (disambiguation)](/source/Initial_(disambiguation)). A historiated initial (the letter O) from an illuminated manuscript In a written or published work, an **initial**[a] is a letter at the beginning of a word, a [chapter](/source/Chapter_(books)), or a [paragraph](/source/Paragraph) that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is derived from [Latin](/source/Latin_language): *initiālis*, which means *of the beginning*. An initial is often several lines in height, and, in older books or manuscripts, may take the form of an **inhabited** or **historiated initial**. There are certain important initials, such as the Beatus initial, or B, of *[Beatus vir](/source/Beatus_vir)...* at the opening of Psalm 1 at the start of a [Vulgate](/source/Vulgate) (Bible). These specific initials in an [illuminated manuscript](/source/Illuminated_manuscript) were also called ***initia*** (sing.: **initium**). ## History A set of sixteenth-century initial capitals The [classical tradition](/source/Classical_tradition) was slow to use capital letters for initials at all; in surviving Roman texts it often is difficult even to separate the words as spacing was not used either. In [late antiquity](/source/Late_antiquity) (c. 4th–6th century) both came into common use in Italy, the initials usually were set in the left margin (as in the second example below), as though to cut them off from the rest of the text, and about twice as tall as the other letters. The radical innovation of [Insular illumination](/source/Insular_illumination) was to make initials much larger, not indented, and for the letters immediately following the initial also to be larger, but diminishing in size (called the "[diminuendo](/source/Diminuendo)" effect, after the [musical term](/source/Musical_terminology)). Subsequently, they became larger still, coloured, and penetrated further and further into the rest of the text, until the whole page might be taken over. The decoration of insular initials, especially large ones, was generally abstract and geometrical, or featured animals in patterns. Historiated initials were an [Insular](/source/Insular_art) invention, but did not come into wider use until the later developments of [Ottonian art](/source/Ottonian_art), [Anglo-Saxon art](/source/Anglo-Saxon_art), and the [Romanesque](/source/Romanesque_art) style in particular. After this period, in [Gothic art](/source/Gothic_art) large paintings of scenes tended to go in rectangular framed spaces, and the initial, although often still historiated, tended to become smaller again. In the very early history of [printing](/source/Printing), the [typesetters](/source/Typesetter) would leave blank the necessary space, so that the initials could be added later by a scribe or [miniature](/source/Miniature_(illuminated_manuscript)) painter. Later initials were printed using separate blocks in [woodcut](/source/Woodcut) or [metalcut](/source/Metalcut) techniques. - Greek biblical text from [Papyrus 46](/source/Papyrus_46), of c. 200, with no initials, punctuation, and barely spaces between words - 5th century [Codex Alexandrinus](/source/Codex_Alexandrinus) with initials in left margin - Leaf from a [Coptic](/source/Coptic_language) manuscript, 6th-14th century, Metropolitan museum of Art, New-York - "Diminuendo" effect in the first letters after this initial from the [Cathach of St. Columba](/source/Cathach_of_St._Columba) (Irish, 7th century) - One of thousands of smaller decorated initials from the [Book of Kells](/source/Book_of_Kells) - *In principio* from the start of the [Gospel of John](/source/Gospel_of_John), 9th century - Illuminated [Georgian letter](/source/Georgian_script) "D" from the [Mokvi Gospels](/source/Mokvi_Gospels) - Large initial L from a Romanesque Bible - Opening from the [Mainz Psalter](/source/Mainz_Psalter), printed in 1457, with small printed and large drawn initials. - [Fraktur](/source/Fraktur_(script)) - [Alexander Agricola](/source/Alexander_Agricola)'s score: "Fortem virili" - Two row-wide P initial, followed by small capitals Since 2003, the W3C is working for initial letter modules for [CSS](/source/CSS) Inline Layout Module Level 3, which standardized the output of initial letters for web pages.[1][2] ## Types of initial The initials are [morphologically](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/morphology) classified: *the [rubricated](/source/Rubrication)* letter (red); the *epigraphic* letter, imitating ancient [Roman majuscules](/source/Roman_square_capitals); the *figurated* initial (usually in miniatures); the *[historiated](/source/Historiated_initial)* initial, that gives spatial support to scenes of a narrative character; etc. The size and decoration of the initial further gives clues to both its importance and location. Letters that began a new section of a text or a particularly noteworthy section might receive more flourishes and space. They would also provide a visual point of reference, "marking the division of the text into books, chapters, paragraphs and sometimes even verses" since, due to the cost of parchment, the modern convention that a new section will begin on a new page had not emerged.[3] In luxury manuscripts an entire page might be devoted to a historiated initial.[4] The initial may sit on the same [baseline](/source/Baseline_(typography)) as the first line of text, at the same margin, as it does here. This is the easiest to typeset on a computer, including in [HTML](/source/HTML). For example: L[orem ipsum](/source/Lorem_Ipsum) dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Alternatively, the initial may be in the left margin, with the text indented, as shown here. In word processors and HTML, this may be implemented using a table with two cells, one for the initial and one for the rest of the text. The difference between this and a true drop cap may be seen when the text extends below the initial. For example: L orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ### Drop cap With a **drop cap**, the initial sits within the margins and runs several lines deep into the paragraph, indenting some normal-sized text in these lines. This keeps the left and top margins of the paragraph flush. In modern computer browsers, this may be achieved with a combination of HTML and [CSS](/source/Cascading_Style_Sheets) by using the float: left; setting. An alternate CSS-only method can instead use the :first-letter pseudo-element. For example: L orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. In some older manuscripts, the first letter of normal sized text after a drop cap also would be capitalized, as may be seen in the Mainz Psalter above, and in the original 1609 printing of [Shakespeare's sonnets](/source/Shakespeare's_sonnets). This evoked the handwritten "diminuendo" style of gradually reducing the text size over the course of the first line. This style now is rare, except in newspapers.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] ### Inhabited initial Inhabited initial E from an Italian [breviary](/source/Breviary), 1153 AD, Los Angeles, Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 1 (83.ML.97), fol. 331v[5] An **inhabited initial** is an initial, an enlarged [letter](/source/Letter_(alphabet)) at the beginning of a paragraph or other section of text that contains an illustration of human or animal figures within the letter. It is similar to a historiated initial (see below); however, the figures in historiated initials show an identifiable scene or story, while the figures in inhabited initials do not show a narrative.[6] Figures in inhabited initials may be related to the contents of the text, but do not have to be. They may be purely decorative instead.[7] ### Historiated initial The letter P as a historiated initial (depicting Peter) in an illuminated Latin bible, 1407 AD. Colored with paint and [gilded](/source/Gilding). The oldest historiated initial known, the *[St Petersburg Bede](/source/St_Petersburg_Bede)*, 8th century A **historiated initial** is an initial, an enlarged [letter](/source/Letter_(alphabet)) at the beginning of a paragraph or other section of text, that contains a picture. Strictly speaking, a historiated initial depicts an identifiable figure or a specific scene, while an inhabited initial (see above) contains figures (human or animal) that are decorative only, without forming a subject. Both sorts became very common and elaborate in luxury [illuminated manuscripts](/source/Illuminated_manuscript). These illustrated initials were first seen in the [Insular art](/source/Insular_art) of the early 8th century. The earliest known example is in the [Saint Petersburg Bede](/source/Saint_Petersburg_Bede), an Insular manuscript of 731–46, and the [Vespasian Psalter](/source/Vespasian_Psalter) has another.[8] ## Opening quotation marks There is no accepted solution for how to handle initials if there is an opening [quotation mark](/source/Quotation_mark) before the first letter. *[The Chicago Manual of Style](/source/The_Chicago_Manual_of_Style)* offers two options: leave out the opening quotation mark entirely; or have it be the same size as the initial, as shown below.[9] "L orem ipsum dolor sit amet." Consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. ## See also - [Calligraphy](/source/Calligraphy) – Visual art related to writing - [Insular script](/source/Insular_script) – Medieval writing system common to Ireland and England - [Insular illumination](/source/Insular_illumination) – Monastic style of manuscript illumination - [Letras y figuras](/source/Letras_y_figuras) – Painting genre in Spanish Philippines - [List of Irish manuscripts](/source/List_of_Irish_manuscripts) - [Lombardic capitals](/source/Lombardic_capitals) – Type of decorative capital letter - [Middle initial](/source/Middle_initial) – Abbreviation of middle name - [Miniature (illuminated manuscript)](/source/Miniature_(illuminated_manuscript)) – Picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript - [Monogram](/source/Monogram) – Motif made by overlapping two or more letters - [Typography](/source/Typography) – Art of arranging type Illuminated manuscripts noted for their especially ornate initials, sometimes taking a full page: - [Abbey Bible](/source/Abbey_Bible) – Italian illuminated manuscript - [Book of Kells](/source/Book_of_Kells) – Illuminated 9th-century Gospel book - [Lindisfarne Gospels](/source/Lindisfarne_Gospels) – 8th-century illuminated manuscript ## Notes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Also referred to as a **versal**, **drop capital** (or **drop cap** or **drop**), **initial capital** (or **initial cap**, **initcapital**, **initcap** or **init**), or **titling capital**. ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Dave Cramer; Elika J. Etemad; Steve Zilles (8 August 2018). ["CSS Inline Layout Module Level 3"](https://www.w3.org/TR/css3-linebox/). *W3C Working Draft*. [World Wide Web Consortium](/source/World_Wide_Web_Consortium). Retrieved 29 January 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Vox_Marcotte_3-0)** Marcotte, Ethan (17 June 2019). ["Drop caps & design systems"](https://product.voxmedia.com/2019/6/17/18524029/the-ballad-of-drop-caps-and-design-systems). *Vox Product Blog*. [Vox Media](/source/Vox_Media). Retrieved 25 June 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** MacDonald, Elizabeth (10 January 2019). ["Lighting the Way: How Illuminated Initials Guided Medieval Readers through Books"](http://blog.europeana.eu/2019/01/lighting-the-way-how-illuminated-initials-guided-medieval-readers-through-books/). *[Europeana Blog](/source/Europeana)*. Retrieved 14 January 2019. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEClemensGraham200729_5-0)** [Clemens & Graham 2007](#CITEREFClemensGraham2007), p. 29. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-getty-e_6-0)** ["Inhabited Initial E"](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/103083/unknown-maker-inhabited-initial-e-italian-1153/). Getty Museum. Retrieved 29 January 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-bluk-glosI_7-0)** ["Glossaries: I"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171126020007/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossI.asp). *Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts*. The British Library. Archived from [the original](https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossI.asp) on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Chilvers2004_8-0)** Chilvers, Ian, ed. (2004). ["Inhabited initial"](https://books.google.com/books?id=WYaRX58a0_IC&pg=PA358). *The Oxford Dictionary of Art* (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 358. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-860476-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-860476-9). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBrown200710_9-0)** [Brown 2007](#CITEREFBrown2007), p. 10. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** University Of Chicago Press Editorial Staff, The (2017). "13.37". *The Chicago Manual of Style* (17th ed.). [The University of Chicago Press](/source/The_University_of_Chicago_Press). p. 723. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.7208/cmos17](https://doi.org/10.7208%2Fcmos17). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780226287058](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780226287058). ## Sources - Brown, Michelle P. (2007). *Manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon Age*. London: [British Library](/source/British_Library). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7123-0680-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7123-0680-5). - Clemens, Raymond; Graham, Timothy (2007). *Introduction to Manuscript Studies*. Ithaca: [Cornell University Press](/source/Cornell_University_Press). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8014-3863-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8014-3863-9). ## Further reading - Stiebner, Erhardt D; Urban, Dieter (1985), *Initials and Decorative Alphabets*, Poole, England: Blandford Press, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7137-1640-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7137-1640-1), [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1355352972](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1355352972) ## External links Look up ***[initial](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/initial)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Initials](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Initials). - [Typolis.de](http://www.typolis.de) - [Types of illuminated initials](http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/illuminit.htm) in the Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture - [Ornamento](https://ornamento.ucd.ie/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20201125121700/https://ornamento.ucd.ie/) 2020-11-25 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) Ornamento contains close to a quarter of a million ornate letters, ornaments, borders, musical notation, diagrams, and illustrations drawn from Iberian print before 1701. - [Initials and Ornaments](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bookhistorian/) by [Book Historian](https://www.flickr.com/people/bookhistorian/) on Flickr.com - [Alphabets & Letters](http://www.reusableart.com/alphabets_letters/) at Reusableart.com - [Make the letter bigger: A history of initials](https://ilovetypography.com/2020/08/20/history-of-illuminated-initials/) at ilovetypography.com Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Historiated initials](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Historiated_initials). - [35 historiated initials](http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?Description=historiated+initial) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20160304130930/http://dpg.lib.berkeley.edu/webdb/dsheh/heh_brf?Description=historiated+initial) 2016-03-04 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) from the [Huntington Library](/source/Huntington_Library) - [Historiated Initial from the "Song of Songs"](http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jtreat/song/270.html) - ["Making of Illuminated Manuscripts"](http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/cultural-history-of-ireland/making-of-illuminated-manuscripts.htm) from the Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - ["Decoration and Illumination"](https://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/dcrtn-il.htm) from Manuscript Studies: Medieval and Early Modern - [100,000 printed initials (1470–1700)](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bookhistorian/) at Flickr.com v t e Typography Page Canons of page construction Column Even working Margin Page numbering Paper size Pagination Pull quote Recto and verso Intentionally blank page Paragraph Alignment Leading Line length River Runaround Widows and orphans runt Character Typeface anatomy Counter Diacritics Dingbat Glyph Ink trap Ligature Rotation Subscript and superscript Swash Text figures Tittle Capitalization All caps Camel case Initial Letter case Small caps Snake case Title case Visual distinction Blackboard bold Bold Color printing Italics Oblique Underline Whitespace Horizontal aspects Figure space Kerning Letter spacing Pitch Sentence spacing Thin space Word spacing Vertical aspects Ascender Baseline Body height Cap height Descender Mean line Overshoot x-height Typeface classifications Roman type Serif Antiqua Didone slab serif Sans-serif Blackletter type Bastarda Fraktur Rotunda Schwabacher Gaelic type Insular Uncial Specialist Record type Display typeface script fat face reverse-contrast Punctuation (List) Bullet Dash Hanging punctuation Hyphen minus sign Interpunct Space Vertical bar Typesetting Etaoin shrdlu Font computer monospaced Font catalog For position only Letterpress Lorem ipsum Microprinting Microtypography Movable type Pangram Phototypesetting Punchcutting Reversing type Sort Type color Type design Typeface list Typographic units Agate Cicero Em En Metric units Pica Point traditional point-size names Twip Digital typography Character encoding Hinting Text shaping Rasterization Typographic features Web typography Bézier curves Desktop publishing Typography in other writing systems Arabic Cyrillic PT Fonts East Asian Thai National Fonts Related articles Penmanship Handwriting Handwriting script Calligraphy Lettering Style guide Type design Type foundry History of Western typography Intellectual property protection of typefaces Technical lettering Vox-ATypI classification Related template Punctuation and other typographic symbols Category Authority control databases International GND National Czech Republic Other Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Initial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.