1 Typography Quiz 1 : Chapter 1 & 2

Why were there divergent copying hands during the Middle Ages?

The different copying hands developed because there was no travel between areas during the Middle Ages.

What lead to the Middle Ages and isolation?

The fall of the Roman Empire in 476AD meant that in Europe it was no longer safe to live in organized cities because of the Visigoths and Vandals ransacked everywhere.

What is Celtic Lettering?

The lettering that led to upper and lowercase letters, developed in Ireland, often utilizing knot work.

How do you recognize Carolingian lettering?

There is a twist and tapering to the strokes.

Why did the Romans put up Triumphal Arches?

They reminded inhabitants they were part of the Roman Empire.

Describe early book covers

They were gold and jewel encrusted and elaborate.

What are some of the advantages of a written language?

Thoughts and stories are preserved word for word; people across generations can communicate.

How was writing first used in historic times?

To identify contents of packages.

How were phonograms used in hieroglyphics?

To sound out pharaoh's name.

Why are Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics so different in appearance?

Hieroglyphics was written with ink and reed brush on papyrus, and Cuneiform was pressed into wet clay using a triangular tipped stylus.

What were hieroglyphics written on?

Hieroglyphics were written papyrus with a reed brush and ink.

Crusades

Holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule.

What was significantly different about written Phoenician?

It was the first alphabet that associated a sound to an abstract symbol.

Who deciphered Hieroglyphics?

Jean Francois Champollion in 1822.

What was an advantage of rag paper?

Less costly to produce than parchment, allowed books to be cheaper.

What are secular scribes?

Letterers hired to write wills, loans, business deals, mortgages, etc.

What is Romanesque Lettering?

Lettering that featured different forms of the same letter in a single piece.

What is Gothic lettering?

Lettering that is tightly packed, condensed, vertical and angular on the page.

Feudal Life

Life in a manor in Middle Ages

Writing Substrate

Local abundant renewable material used to write on.

Boustrephedon

Means as the ox plows, and refers to when symbols were read in alternating directions on every other line.

Why are cuneiform and hieroglyphics so different in appearance?

One was written with a brush on a paperlike substance the other was pressed into wet clay with a triangular tipped stylus.

To where would you trace the origins of our alphabet?

Our alphabet goes back to the Ancient Roman, Latin, comes from the Greek, which comes from the Phoenicians.

How is papyrus made?

Outer bark was peeled off, inner pith was soaked, mashed flat, layered criss-cross, weighted down and dried to make a sheet of papyrus.

Substrate

Paper, Clay Papyrus, etc that was written on.

What was a disadvantage of Papyrus?

Papyrus had to rolled into scrolls, could only write on one side, and it would mold in humid climates.

A _____________ is when the first sounds of symbols are used to sound out a pharaoh's name.

Phonogram

Writing Implement

Pointed stylus, reed brush , used to write with

Who was taught to read and write in ancient times?

Priests and Officials

A ________ is when two or more pictographs are put together to sound out the syllables of a word.

Rebus

How were Mnemonics used?

Remembering stories, myths, remedies, genealogy and history to pass on.

In which direction are hieroglyphics read?

Top to bottom in the direction the characters face.

Why were Gothic Cathedrals built around 1200 to 1400?

Towns were growing, and churches raised money to create a monument to the town, its people and religion.

Mnemonics

Tricks to remember a lot of information.

Ideograph

Two or more pictographs put together to represent an abstract idea.

Writing

Allowed communication across generations with accuracy

Which country adopted the Phoencian alphabet and added some characters to it & made it their own?

Ancient Greece

What country was second to adopt the Phoenician alphabet?

Ancient Italy (Rome)

Gothic Textura

Angular lettering style, condensed to save space, popular in Germany around 1100AD.

A __________ is a looped ellipse representing eternal life that was drawn around names of pharoahs.

Ankh symbol; Cartouche

What is Transliteration?

Applying our alphabet to a spoken language that has not yet been written down or developed their own alphabet.

Where is the fertile crescent?

Area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that flooded each year, bringing up rich soil for easy farming.

When were European cities resettled after the isolation of the Middle Ages?

Around 1100, tradesmen, merchants and teachers moved to cities, universities were established, guilds were formed.

When does the Renaissance happen in Europe?

Between 1400 & 1450 AD

Codex

Bound book with pages, made of parchment, used by early Christians to compare texts.

How did Champollion translate hieroglyphics?

Champollion used the cartouches on the Rosetta Stone to sound out Cleopatra's name.

Rustica

Common form of the Roman Alphabet, more condensed to take up less space.

How did Cuneiform change over time?

Cuneiform began pictograph-based and became increasingly abstract as the clay tablet was turned sideways and a triangular tipped stylus was used.

What was Parchment made of?

Dried, stretched, bleached, de-furred hides of animals.

What is the name of the isolated Medieval communities?

Feudal communities were enclosed near a manor house and its wall and were self-sufficient.

Capitalis Quadrata

Formal version of the ancient Roman alphabet used in inscriptions.

When was the Black Plague in Europe?

From 1347 to 1377 more than 40% of Europe's population died; 25 million people.

Guild

Group of craftsmen who practiced their craft

Why is the Rosetta Stone important?

Had the same inscription in three different languages and helped to decode hieroglyphics.

Why were Bibles so very expensive?

Hand copied, took years to complete, used finest materials to honor God.

800AD

When Charlemagne created his empire

Phoenicia

Where the precursor of our phonetic alphabet developed.

Why was parchment so expensive?

Because you had to grow an animal, then skin it, then treat the skin to get parchment.

Scribes

Believed to have power over death if write name in Book of the Dead

Who was Charlemagne?

A French nobleman who put together a peaceful kingdom around 800AD, ruled as king.

What is Gothic Textura?

A condensed, tightly spaced version of Gothic lettering.

Describe a phonogram?

A drawing that uses the first sound of each object to sound out the word.

What is Carolingian lettering?

A lettering by Alcuin of York, a monk who standardized lettering under Charlemagne's rule.

Papryrus

A paper like substance made from a weed that grows in the Nile River.

Scriptorium

A place in a monastery where monks copy as one reads aloud from a sacred book.

Rotunda Lettering

A rounder form of Gothic lettering favored in Italy & France in 1400.

Pictograph

A simple drawing of an object

What is papyrus made from?

A weed that grows in the Nile.

Substrate

A writing surface

Writing Implement & Substrate

Affect the appearance of the written language

Who developed Carolingian script?

Alcuin of York

When was rag paper introduced into Europe?

In 1100 AD in Fabriano, Italy by Asian papermakers.

Origin of Papermaking

In China, 105 AD

Where and when did hieroglyphics evolve?

In Egypt, Africa, in roughly 3000 BC

When and where did the writing system cuneiform evolve?

In Sumeria in about 3300 BC.

How were hieroglyphics written?

In ink with a reed brush on a paperlike surface.

What was an advantage of Papyrus?

It was a free and renewable resource of weeds growing in the Nile, it was readily available, didn't take long to make into paper.

How did the Phoenician alphabet differ from other early writing systems?

It was phonetic based and sounded out words.

Why did the Phoenician alphabet spread so rapidly in the ancient world?

It was simple to learn with only 22 characters.

Name two places where early writing systems developed.

Sumeria (Mesopotamia) developed Cuneiform; Egypt (Africa) developed Hieroglyphics.

What country used clay tablets as a substrate?

Sumeria (Mesopotamia) engraved Cuneiform into clay tablets made from the clay of the riverbed.

Ankh Symbol

Symbol of eternal life when rope creates a circle

Rebus

Symbols are used to sound out word syllables.

Phonogram

Symbols whose first sounds sound out a word or name

What is a cartouche?

The Ankh symbol for eternal life is placed around the name of a pharoah showing they would live for eternity.

How did the Phoenician alphabet spread so widely in the ancient world?

The Phoenicians were sea traders and they spread it with cargo they carried and marked.

What is the Renaissance?

The Rebirth of Learning in Europe, restudying ancient Greek and Latin texts, artists, poets and philosophers.

What impact did Uncials have on our alphabet?

Uncials are believed to have been the precursor of our lowercase alphabet.

How was cuneiform written?

Using a triangular tipped stylus pressed into wet clay.

Writing System

Using symbols to communicate ideas.

Alphabet

Using symbols to represent the sounds of a language.

Why did monks copy Bibles?

Way for them to learn the text, and raised money when sold.

Minoan Script

Writing system on two disks with stamped symbols from Minos (Crete)

What was an advantage of Parchment over Papyrus?

You could fold parchment and it would not crack, could write on both side of it and it wouldn't seep through, could sew pages together.

Codex

a manuscript text in book form.

Ideograph

a symbol that joins two or more pictographs to represent an idea

When did the Phoenician alphabet evolve?

around 1500 - 1200 BC

Middle Ages

from 500AD to 1300AD in Europe