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| The History of z |
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The letter z, like y, occurs very rarely in Latin and then not in native Latin words. It is also very rare in English, but is much more common in medieval French, more so even than in modern French. When it does appear, it usually has a long form with a curling descender. |
| The only example from the pre-Carolingian scripts or National Hands in the sample sets I have here is a rather fancy example from Visigothic minuscule. When I find some more I will add them in. |
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This example of z from a 10th century Visigothic minuscule work shows the curled descender, but the top of the letter also has a bit of a curly flourish. |
| In formal Gothic book scripts, z is still a rare letter. Something which looks like a z is used in Latin as an abbreviation when the word ending -ibus appears to be written -ibz. I guess you could say that it looks like a z, but is not really a z. |
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This example of z comes from a formal 12th century charter, representing a protogothic document hand. It is relatively simple and angular. |
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This example from a 14th century Gothic rotunda book hand in the Italian language has a truncated form, somewhere between the modern z and the type with a curling descender. |
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This elegant z comes from a formal bâtarde book hand of the 15th century, in the French language. |
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This less formal exampleof z, not so angular nor with such careful delineation of the thick and thin strokes, is also from a 15th century French language bâtarde script. |
| In the later cursive book and document hands, z does not really change in form. |
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This angular sloping z is from a 13th century Latin charter from England, in the cursiva anglicana script. |
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This rather more curly z comes from a 14th century English chancery warrant in the French language, also in cursiva anglicana script. The descender on this one curls the opposite way. |
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This example of z, with a long descender with a curled tail, is from a 15th century English language petition written in a very untidy cursive hand. |
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This rather flourishing z with an angular slashing descender is from a 15th century private charter from England, written in a cursive hand. |
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A 14th century French language document in a fairly rough cursive hand has produced this short, rounded z. |
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A document of similar style and date to the above has produced an angular short z with only a hint of a descender. |
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A French language cursive book hand of the late 15th or early 16th century has produced this neat z with a rounded, curly descender. |
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This fine spidery z with a curling descender comes from a French language cursive book hand of the late 15th or early 16th century. |
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This curly and flourishing z comes from a 15th century document in the German language, in a formal, but nonetheless cursive, script. |
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A cursive book hand of the late 15th or early 16th century in a dialect of Dutch or German displays a simple rounded z with a long descender. |
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This curly z with a reverse curve comes from a late 16th century document, written in a conservative style of English chancery hand. |
| My current example sets of humanistic minuscule do not contain any examples of z. |
| The letter z,
where it occurs, usually has a recognisable form, but there seem to be many
variants of style, even between similar scripts. From the examples here,
it would seem to be a bit of an English trick to sometimes kink the descender
the opposite way. The main art, in medieval French particularly, is recognising
it when it turns up in peculiar spellings. Who would guess, for instance,
that the modern French word sous could be spelled
soubz? |
 Histories of Individual Letters |
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History of Scripts |
| What is Paleography? |
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