Initials are very important to understand as they’re used in a variety of important documents throughout one’s life. If you don’t know what initials are or how they work, you’ve come to the right place.
Initials are simply the first letter of a word. They are most commonly used with people’s names and should represent the first letter of the first name and the first letter of the second name. For example, John Smith would have JS initials.
You’ll come across initials plenty of times in English, especially anyone who has to fill in important documents. Documents often ask you to sign your initials directly after the place where you’ve signed your name and dated it.
Examples Of What Initials Are
We could teach you everything we know about initials, but it wouldn’t be much help if you don’t see them in action. We thought we’d show you some examples of how initials are used, as well as the names that those initials come from.
Remember, we must initial a name in its entirety. It’s no good only initially a first name or a last name. Both names must be included together. A typical initial is two letters long, though sometimes you can have more than that depending on the name.
- My name is Jack Preacher, and my initials are JP.
- If your name is John O’Sullivan, your initials can be JOS or JO, depending on your preference.
- I am called Steve Arnott, and my initials are SA.
- My initials are MO. My name is Matthew Oscar.
- Where do I find my initials if my name is Dean West? Is DW correct?
- You should initial all parts of your name. Patrick Stewart becomes PS.
- Matthew Bolton is initialed as MB.
- Make sure to initial your first name and last name, Roger Fox. That would make it RF.
- Mrs. Tonks’ initials are ST; I wonder what her first name could be. Sarah? Sam?
- My initials are AJ, and my first name is Alex. Can you guess my surname?
- The name is James Blond, though you can refer to me as JB.
- My initials are MS, and my name is Mary Sue.
We included as many names and examples as we could to show you when initials are used. Typically, we would know both the first name and the surname (second name) of the person if we’re initialing them, though we also only tend to give ourselves initials.
However, in the case of the teacher example (example 9), sometimes you will see an initial without knowing a full name. This leaves the name guessing to speculation, as an initial only gives away the first letter of a name and not the full name.
Are Initials Always First And Last Name?
Whenever you want to write initials, it always includes your first and last name. There are no other names that must be included for an initial to be authentic.
Most initials are two letters long because they are only a first and last name (AJ or BT). However, if the name has more than one word in it (usually indicated by a second capital letter), it’s possible to have three or more letters in the initial.
Let’s look at a few examples of what we mean:
- My name is AJ Prince. My initials are AJP.
Here, AJ already has an initial in his first name. Usually, the J in an initial like this means “Junior,” as their mother or father share the same name as them. However, AJ also has to include his last name initial to be correct, so he has three initials in his name.
- My name is John O’Peters. My initials are JOP.
Because the surname O’Peters uses two capital letters, it’s possible to see the initials of the full name be three letters in length. However, this is usually down to personal preference. Some people with “O’Peters” as a surname might only want to keep the O as the initial, while others want to keep the OP.
Is Initial Middle Name?
Whenever we’re using initials, we don’t typically include a middle name. There are a few exceptions, but most formal documents don’t require a middle name to be stated.
For example, if your name is “John Paul Goldberg,” your initials would be JG. You won’t need to include the P from Paul in your middle name. There is one exception to this rule, and that all comes down to personal preference again.
If you already initial your middle name when you introduce yourself (i.e., John F. Kennedy or Lyndon B. Johnson), then you can put those initials in your name. JFK and LBJ were both US Presidents who used their middle initial.
The tradition to use a middle initial when writing your initials is an American tradition, and it doesn’t typically happen anywhere else in the world. However, if you want to use your middle initial, there is nothing wrong with doing so – it’s just not common.
How Do I Write My Initials?
Let’s go over a quick guide to writing your initials. If you’ve been asked to do so, it can’t be much simpler than this!
- Write your full name.
- George Patrick Johnson.
- Remove your middle name if you don’t use the initial.
- George Johnson.
- Find the first letter of your first name and remove the rest.
- G Johnson
- Now find the first letter of your second name and remove the rest.
- G J
- Now put the two initials together. There doesn’t need to be a space between them.
- GJ
How Do I Write My Initials And Surname?
Sometimes, you might see initials used for only one name. If this is the case, you’ll always see the first name initialed, but the last name will be written out in full.
For example, a writer might sign their work “L. Bury.” If the writer’s first name is Lucian, then we can see how they’ve initialed it to show only “L.”
But why do writers do this?
Well, it’s not just writers that address themselves in this way. It’s actually common practice for a lot of people in the arts industry. For example, an artist might sign their work to say P. Picasso, or a playwright might write W. Shakespeare.
The reason this is done is as a sign of recognition. Most people will be familiar with the writer that they’re reading from or the artist they’re looking at the art of. If you’re famous enough in your own circle of art, then people won’t need to know your full name.
For that reason, it’s common to see the first name initialized when written. Your last name is more than enough to recognize you with when you’re well-established in your respected field. For newer writers and artists, it’s best to write your full name, so people know who you are before trying to remove some of your initials.
What To Write If A Form Asks For Your Initials
The most common place you might find something asking for your initials is on a form or a contract of some kind. You’ll typically see it look as follows:
Signature:Put signature here
Printed Name:DEAN EDWARDS
Initials:DE
Date:9/12/2021
You’ll almost always write your full name out and then include the initials afterward. It just helps to streamline the form-filling process and helps with the analysis of the form on the back-end.
How Do You Punctuate Initials?
You don’t always need to punctuate initials. It’s actually more common to leave your initials without any punctuation. However, some people like to show a difference between the two letters that separate their names with periods.
- DE
- D.E.
Both of these forms of initials are correctly punctuated. It’s up to you which form works best for you, but most people like to use it without periods because it saves time.
It’s worth quickly mentioning that if you follow the writer’s method above where the first name is initialed, but the last name is spelled out, you always want a period at the end of that.
- D. Edwards
This is because your spelling out the last name after the initial, so it’s good to separate the two with a period and a space.
Do You Put Periods Between Initials?
As we’ve already said, it’s up to you how you want to punctuate your initials. The most common form of punctuation uses periods between initials. If that looks good to you, then we recommend you use it!
Most people leave the periods out and only write the two letters when they initial their name.
Why Do Writers Use Initials?
Writers use initials when for two reasons.
They are either already well-established writers whose initials are recognizable to the people familiar with their work. They might also use them because they want to save time, and it’s quicker to write two letters than it is to write a full name.
How Do You Write Juniors Initials?
We briefly touched on this earlier, but if you share the same name with your child (or vise versa), you may want to know what their junior initials are.
- If you’re called Andy, and your son is called Andy, his name will be Andy Junior.
- Andy Junior is initialed to be AJ.
- If you include the surname after this, you simply add the next initial onto AJ.
- AJT works as a good initial. (If your last name begins with T).
Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.
Initial letter
Updated on January 09, 2020
An initial is the first letter of each word in a proper name.
Guidelines for using initials in reports, research papers, and bibliographies (or reference lists) vary according to the academic discipline and appropriate style manual.
Etymology
From the Latin, «standing at the beginning»
Examples and Observations
Amy Einsohn: Most style manuals call for spacing between initials in a personal name: A. B. Cherry (not A.B. Cherry). There are no spaces, however, between personal initials that are not followed by periods (FDR, LBJ).
Allan M. Siegal and William G. Connolly: Although full first names with middle initials (if any) are preferred in most copy, two or more initials may be used if that is the preference of the person mentioned: L.P. Arniotis, with a thin space between initials.
Pam Peters: The practice of using initials to represent given names has been more common in Europe than in America or Australia. Various celebrated names are rarely given in any other form: C. P. E. Bach, T. S. Eliot, P. G. Wodehouse. In bibliographies and referencing systems (author-date-Vancouver), the use of initials is well established… Both the Chicago Manual of Style (2003) and Copy-editing (1992) use stops after each initial, as well as space, as shown in the names above. But in common usage, the space between initials is being whittled down (C.P.E. Bach, T.S. Eliot, P.G. Wodehouse) making the spacing exactly like that used in initialisms. . . . The practice of using an initial as well as a given name, as in J. Arthur Rank, Dwight D. Eisenhower is more widespread in the US than in the UK.
Kate Stone Lombardi: Take the League of Women Voters. The group was founded in 1920 during a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, held only six months before the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote… [T]hose at the state level say that some League officers would like to follow the lead of the AARP, now more recognized for its initials than for the stodgier and sometimes misleading name, the American Association of Retired Persons. The AARP made the change partly because so many of its members, who are as young as 50, are still working. ‘We are working hard to put out the logo, LWV,’ said Martha Kennedy, state membership chairwoman.
Seth Stevenson: In 1985, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network became just ESPN, with no reference to the original meaning. . . . TNN was once the Nashville Network, then became the National Network when it deep-sixed its hootenanny programming.
An initial letter is the first character of a sentence that is enlarged, positioned, and styled in a decorative or graphic way. It is commonly used to draw attention to a paragraph, chapter or section, article, ad copy – any important text in print and the web, as well as other digital media.
Initial letters can be both creative and functional. They can help spice up a layout by creating visual interest, thereby drawing attention to any important content entry point. They can also create emphasis, and establish or reinforce typographic hierarchy. All in all, the use of initial letters can be a dramatic and powerful way to add visual appeal and drama to an otherwise mediocre or unremarkable layout.
Initial letters can be either capitals or lowercase (thus my preferred term initial letters, and not initial caps as they are frequently referred to). They can be set in the same exact typeface as the neighboring text, a different weight or variant, or they can be set in a completely different typestyle. Highly contrasting weights and versions, as well as elaborate, decorative, calligraphic, or ornate typestyles in contrasting colors are often used and can work well.
Here are some of the most common initial letter styles:
Raised Initial
A raised initial, also referred to as a stick-up initial, is one whose baseline aligns with the first line of text, and whose body rises above it. It is much less complicated to execute than a dropped initial. When setting a raised initial that is the first letter of a word (as opposed to a single letter word such as A or I), make sure you space the rest of the word close enough to the initial to read as a word.
(left) A large raised initial in a striking color. (right) This ‘almost’ centered raised initial makes a dramatic statement. Both from Oprah magazine.
Dropped Initial
An initial that falls below the first line of text is referred to as a dropped initial. This is the most common initial treatment, and calls for precise placement and alignment on all edges to achieve a professional result. Dropped initials should optically align (as opposed to mechanically align) with the baseline of a line of type. When the height of the initial is intended to align with the first line of type, it should align with some element of that line, whether it be the cap height, an ascender, or even the x-height – whichever works best for each particular instance. For the most tasteful and pleasing appearance, go at least three lines deep.
(left) This classic drop cap treatment is counterpointed by the signature on the bottom right. Food and Wine magazine. (right) A condensed sans font and the addition of color make this drop initial stand out. Fortune magazine.
Overlapped and Contoured Initials
An initial can overlap the text in some manner, often partially sitting behind and sometimes rising above the text. The key to a successful execution of this approach is to keep the color of the initial light enough so that it doesn’t interfere with, or reduce the readability of the overlapped text. Text can also be contoured around an initial.
(left) This overlapped, or layered initial creates a subtle yet sophisticated look. Note the initial character is kept in the text to maintain its readability in this advertorial. (right) Text wrapped around an O makes for an elegant, eye-catching treatment. New England Home’s Connecticut magazine.
Boxed and Reversed Initials
There are countless approaches that can add visual interest and originality to initial characters. An initial can be placed within an outlined or colored box, or set in reverse and dropped out of a box of black or any color, or even a texture – pretty much anything you can think up!
Decorative Initial
Sometimes a very unusual, elaborate, or ornate initial can do a lot to enhance a design. Some fonts contain swash characters or other alternate letterforms that can be used as initial letters, while others contain decorative initials designed primarily for this purpose. In addition, some very interesting and unusual initials are available as .eps picture files. They are worth looking into, especially if your project is primarily text-based with few or no illustrations or photos, and could use a bit of livening up. Handwriting, graffiti, or even photographs showing real or organic letterforms can also render very interesting and original results.
(left) This oversized initial dropped out of a cyan box makes a strong graphic statement. Money magazine. (right) A decorative script initial sets just the right tone in this article about actress Sharon Stone. AARP The Magazine.
Lowercase Initial
Not all initials need to be capital letterforms! An interesting initial treatment can be achieved with the use of a lowercase character, often followed by a small cap text lead-in. This approach can render a distinctive look suitable for some designs.
Initial Word or Phrase
Try setting the first word or short phrase with a drop initial approach. The ability to actually read the initial treatment can draw the reader in with more information than just one character.
Initial Symbol
Sometimes the best initial letter is not actually a letter, but a symbol or a graphic. This technique can become one that is repeated throughout a magazine, brochure, web site, or any instance benefiting from a reinforced theme or branding.
(left) An initial letter can be replaced by a symbol. (right) This illustrated initial sits midway between two paragraphs. The Advocate and The New York Times Magazine.
A few things to keep in mind when using initial letters:
- Proper alignment is key to well-executed initial letters.
- Don’t repeat the letter you use as the initial cap in the text unless its size, style, and position make it difficult for the eye to connect it with the rest of the word.
- Avoid the use of too many initial letters in one layout. One per length of copy or long section is enough.
Initial letter treatments are not limited to the above styles: use your imagination, experiment with different approaches, and have fun with it – just keep them tasteful, readable, and appropriate to the content and the rest of the design.
(left) A chunky drop cap signals the beginning of this text-heavy editorial spread from Rolling Stone magazine. (right) This initial combines two styles: dropped and raised. Money magazine.
(upper left) An illustrated graphic can be used instead of an actual character for an initial treatment. Oprah magazine. (lower left) The addition of a coffee bean to this dropped initial ties it in to the headline as well as the content in this advertorial. (right) A raised cap becomes an illustration in this article from Oprah magazine.
*Check out some more creative uses of initial letters in this article about U&lc magazine.
The
outline of the problem discussed
1.
The main types of words in English and their morphological structure.
2.
Affixation (or derivation).
3.
Compounding.
4.
Conversion.
5.
Abbreviation (shortening).
Word-formation
is the process of creating new words from the material
available
in the language.
Before
turning to various processes of word-building in English, it would be
useful
to analyze the main types of English words and their morphological
structure.
If
viewed structurally, words appear to be divisible into smaller units
which are
called
morphemes.
Morphemes
do not occur as free forms but only as constituents of
words.
Yet they possess meanings of their own.
All
morphemes are subdivided into two large classes: roots
(or
radicals)
and
affixes.
The
latter, in their turn, fall into prefixes
which
precede the root in the
structure
of the word (as in re-real,
mis-pronounce, un-well) and
suffixes
which
follow
the root (as in teach-er,
cur-able, dict-ate).
Words
which consist of a root and an affix (or several affixes) are called
derived
words or
derivatives
and
are produced by the process of word-building
known
as affixation
(or
derivation).
Derived
words are extremely numerous in the English vocabulary.
Successfully
competing with this structural type is the so-called root
word which
has
only
a root morpheme in its structure. This type is widely represented by
a great
number
of words belonging to the original English stock or to earlier
borrowings
(house,
room, book, work, port, street, table, etc.), and,
in Modern English, has been
greatly
enlarged by the type of word-building called conversion
(e.g.
to
hand, v.
formed
from the noun hand;
to can, v.
from can,
n.;
to
pale,
v. from pale,
adj.;
a
find,
n.
from to
find, v.;
etc.).
Another
wide-spread word-structure is a compound
word consisting
of two or
more
stems (e.g. dining-room,
bluebell, mother-in-law, good-for-nothing).
Words of
this
structural type are produced by the word-building process called
composition.
The
somewhat odd-looking words like flu,
lab, M.P., V-day, H-bomb are
called
curtailed
words and
are produced by the way of word-building called shortening
(abbreviation).
The
four types (root words, derived words, compounds, shortenings)
represent
the
main structural types of Modern English words, and affixation
(derivation),
conversion,
composition and shortening (abbreviation) — the most productive ways
of
word-building.
83
The
process of affixation
consists
in coining a new word by adding an affix or
several
affixes to some root morpheme. The role of the affix in this
procedure is very
important
and therefore it is necessary to consider certain facts about the
main types
of
affixes.
From
the etymological point of view affixes are classified into the same
two
large
groups as words: native and borrowed.
Some
Native Suffixes
-er
worker,
miner,
teacher,
painter,
etc.
-ness
coldness,
loneliness,
loveliness,
etc.
-ing
feeling,
meaning,
singing,
reading,
etc.
-dom
freedom,
wisdom,
kingdom,
etc.
-hood
childhood,
manhood,
motherhood,
etc.
-ship
friendship,
companionship,
mastership,
etc.
Noun-forming
-th
length,
breadth,
health,
truth,
etc.
-ful
careful,
joyful,
wonderful,
sinful,
skilful,
etc.
-less
careless,
sleepless,
cloudless,
senseless,
etc.
-y
cozy,
tidy,
merry,
snowy,
showy,
etc.
-ish
English,
Spanish,
reddish,
childish,
etc.
-ly
lonely,
lovely,
ugly,
likely,
lordly,
etc.
-en
wooden,
woollen,
silken,
golden,
etc.
Adjective-forming
-some
handsome, quarrelsome, tiresome, etc.
Verb-
forming
-en
widen,
redden,
darken,
sadden,
etc.
Adverb-
forming
-ly
warmly,
hardly,
simply,
carefully,
coldly,
etc.
Borrowed
affixes, especially of Romance origin are numerous in the English
vocabulary.
We can recognize words of Latin and French origin by certain suffixes
or
prefixes;
e. g. Latin
affixes:
-ion,
-tion, -ate,
-ute
,
-ct,
-d(e), dis-, -able, -ate,
-ant,
—
ent,
-or, -al, -ar in
such words as opinion,
union, relation, revolution, appreciate,
congratulate,
attribute, contribute, , act, collect, applaud, divide, disable,
disagree,
detestable,
curable, accurate, desperate, arrogant, constant, absent, convenient,
major,
minor, cordial, familiar;
French
affixes –ance,
—ewe,
-ment, -age, -ess, -ous,
en-
in
such words as arrogance,
intelligence, appointment, development, courage,
marriage,
tigress, actress, curious, dangerous, enable, enslaver.
Affixation
includes a) prefixation
–
derivation of words by adding a prefix to
full
words and b) suffixation
–
derivation of words by adding suffixes to bound
stems.
Prefixes
and suffixes have their own valency, that is they may be added not to
any
stem at random, but only to a particular type of stems:
84
Prefix
un-
is
prefixed to adjectives (as: unequal,
unhealthy), or
to adjectives
derived
from verb stems and the suffix -able
(as:
unachievable,
unadvisable), or
to
participial
adjectives (as: unbecoming,
unending, unstressed, unbound); the
suffix —
er
is
added to verbal stems (as: worker,
singer, or
cutter,
lighter), and
to substantive
stems
(as: glover,
needler); the
suffix -able
is
usually tacked on to verb stems (as:
eatable,
acceptable); the
suffix -ity
in
its turn is usually added to adjective stems
with
a passive meaning (as: saleability,
workability), but
the suffix —ness
is
tacked on
to
other adjectives, having the suffix -able
(as:
agreeableness.
profitableness).
Prefixes
and suffixes are semantically distinctive, they have their own
meaning,
while the root morpheme forms the semantic centre of a word. Affixes
play
a
dependent role in the meaning of the word. Suffixes have a
grammatical meaning,
they
indicate or derive a certain part of speech, hence we distinguish:
noun-forming
suffixes,
adjective-forming suffixes, verb-forming suffixes and adverb-forming
suffixes.
Prefixes change or concretize the meaning of the word, as: to
overdo (to
do
too
much),
to underdo (to
do less than one can or is proper),
to outdo (to
do more or
better
than),
to undo (to
unfasten, loosen, destroy the result, ruin),
to misdo (to
do
wrongly
or unproperly).
A
suffix indicates to what semantic group the word belongs. The suffix
-er
shows
that the word is a noun bearing the meaning of a doer of an action,
and the
action
is denoted by the root morpheme or morphemes, as: writer,
sleeper, dancer,
wood-pecker,
bomb-thrower, the
suffix -ion/-tion,
indicates
that it is a noun
signifying
an action or the result of an action, as: translation
‘a
rendering from one
language
into another’ (an
act, process) and
translation
‘the
product of such
rendering’;
nouns with the suffix -ism
signify
a system, doctrine, theory, adherence to
a
system, as: communism,
realism; coinages
from the stem of proper names are
common,.
as Darwinism.
Affixes
can also be classified into productive
and
non-productive
types.
By
productive
affixes we
mean the ones, which take part in deriving new words in a
particular
period of language development. The best way to identify productive
affixes
is to look for them among neologisms
and
so-called nonce-words,
i.e.
words
coined
and used only for this particular occasion. The latter are usually
formed on the
level
of living speech and reflect the most productive and progressive
patterns in
word-building.
When a literary critic writes about a certain book that it is an
unputdownable
thriller, we
will seek in vain this strange and impressive adjective in
dictionaries,
for it is a nonce-word coined on the current pattern of Modern
English
and
is evidence of the high productivity of the adjective-forming
borrowed suffix –
able
and
the native prefix un-,
e.g.: Professor Pringle was a thinnish, baldish,
dyspeptic-lookingish
cove with an eye like a haddock.(From
Right-Ho, Jeeves by P.G.
Wodehouse)
The
adjectives thinnish
and
baldish
bring
to mind dozens of other adjectives
made
with the same suffix: oldish,
youngish, mannish, girlish, fattish, longish,
yellowish,
etc. But
dyspeptic-lookingish
is
the author’s creation aimed at a humorous
effect,
and, at the same time, providing beyond doubt that the suffix –ish
is
a live and
active
one.
85
The
same is well illustrated by the following popular statement: “I
don’t like
Sunday
evenings: I feel so Mondayish”. (Mondayish is
certainly a nonce-word.)
One
should not confuse the productivity of affixes with their frequency
of
occurrence
(use). There are quite a number of high-frequency affixes which,
nevertheless,
are no longer used in word-derivation (e.g. the adjective-forming
native
suffixes
–ful,
-ly; the
adjective-forming suffixes of Latin origin –ant,
-ent, -al which
are
quite frequent).
Some
Productive Affixes
Some
Non-Productive Affixes
Noun-forming
suffixes
-th,
-hood
Adjective-forming
suffixes
—ly,
-some, -en, -ous
Verb-forming
suffix -en
Compound
words are
words derived from two or more stems. It is a very old
word-formation
type and goes back to Old English. In Modern English compounds
are
coined by joining one stem to another by mere juxtaposition, as
raincoat,
keyhole,
pickpocket,
red-hot, writing-table. Each
component of a compound coincides
with
the word. Compounds are the commonest among nouns and adjectives.
Compound
verbs are few in number, as they are mostly the result of conversion
(as,
to
weekend) and
of back-formation (as, to
stagemanage).
From
the point of view of word-structure compounds consist of free stems
and
may
be of different structure: noun stems + noun stem (raincoat);
adjective
stem +
noun
stem (bluebell);
adjective
stem + adjective stem (dark-blue);
gerundial
stem +
noun
stem (writing-table);
verb
stem + post-positive stem (make-up);
adverb
stem +
adjective
stem (out-right);
two
noun stems connected by a preposition (man-of-war)
and
others. There are compounds that have a connecting vowel (as,
speedometer,
handicraft),
but
it is not characteristic of English compounds.
Compounds
may be idiomatic
and
non-idiomatic.
In idiomatic compounds the
meaning
of each component is either lost or weakened, as buttercup
(лютик),
chatter-box
(болтун).
These
are entirely
demotivated compounds. There
are also motivated
compounds,
as lifeboat
(спасательная
лодка). In non-idiomatic compounds the
Noun-forming
suffixes
—er,
-ing,
—ness,
-ism (materialism),
-ist
(impressionist),
-ance
Adjective-forming
suffixes
—y,
-ish, -ed (learned),
—able,
—less
Adverb-forming
suffix
—ly
Verb-forming
suffixes
—ize/-ise
(realize),
—ate
Prefixes
un-
(unhappy),re-
(reconstruct),
dis-
(disappoint)
86
meaning
of each component is retained, as apple-tree,
bedroom, sunlight. There
are
also
many border-line cases.
The
components of compounds may have different semantic relations; from
this
point of view we can roughly classify compounds into endocentric
and
exocentric
compounds.
In endocentric compounds the semantic centre is found
within
the compound and the first element determines the other, as
film-star,
bedroom,
writing-table.
In
exocentric compounds there is no semantic centre, as
scarecrow.
In
Modern English, however, linguists find it difficult to give criteria
for
compound
nouns; it is still a question of hot dispute. The following criteria
may be
offered.
A compound noun is characterized by a) one word or hyphenated
spelling, b)
one
stress, and by c) semantic integrity. These are the so-called
“classical
compounds”.
It
is possible that a compound has only two of these criteria, for
instance, the
compound
words headache,
railway have
one stress and hyphenated or one-word
spelling,
but do not present a semantic unity, whereas the compounds
motor-bike,
clasp-knife
have
hyphenated spelling and idiomatic meaning, but two even stresses
(‘motor-‘bike,
‘clasp-‘knife).
The word apple-tree
is
also a compound; it is spelt either
as
one word or is hyphenated, has one stress (‘apple-tree),
but it is not idiomatic. The
difficulty
of defining a compound lies in spelling which might be misleading, as
there
are
no hard and fast rules of spelling the compounds: three ways of
spelling are
possible:
(‘dockyard,
‘dock yard and
dock-yard).
The
same holds true for the stress
that
may differ from one reference-book to another.
Since
compounds may have two stresses and the stems may be written
separately,
it is difficult to draw the line between compounds proper and nominal
word-combinations
or syntactical combinations. In a combination of words each
element
is stressed and written separately. Compare the attributive
combination
‘black
‘board, a
board which is black (each element has its own meaning; the first
element
modifies the second) and the compound ‘blackboard’,
a
board or a sheet of
slate
used in schools for teaching purposes (the word has one stress and
presents a
semantic
unit). But it is not always easy as that to draw a distinction, as
there are
word-combinations
that may present a semantic unity, take for instance: green
room
(a
room in a theatre for actors and actresses).
Compound
derivatives are
words, usually nouns and adjectives, consisting of
a
compound stem and a suffix, the commonest type being such nouns as:
firstnighter,
type-writer,
bed-sitter, week-ender, house-keeping, well-wisher, threewheeler,
old-timer,
and
the adjectives: blue-eyed,
blond-haired, four-storied, mildhearted,
high-heeled.
The
structure of these nouns is the following: a compound stem
+
the suffix -er,
or
the suffix -ing.
Adjectives
have the structure: a compound stem, containing an adjective (noun,
numeral)
stem and a noun stem + the suffix -ed.
In
Modern English it is an extremely
productive
type of adjectives, e.g.: big-eyed,
long-legged, golden-haired.
In
Modern English it is common practice to distinguish also
semi-suffixes, that
is
word-formative elements that correspond to full words as to their
lexical meaning
and
spelling, as -man,
-proof, -like: seaman, railroadman, waterproof, kiss-proof,
ladylike,
businesslike. The
pronunciation may be the same (cp. proof
[pru:f]
and
87
waterproof
[‘wL:tq
pru:f],
or differ, as is the case with the morpheme -man
(cp.
man
[mxn]
and seaman
[‘si:mqn].
The
commonest is the semi-suffix -man
which
has a more general meaning —
‘a
person of trade or profession or carrying on some work’, as: airman,
radioman,
torpedoman,
postman, cameramen, chairman and
others. Many of them have
synonyms
of a different word structure, as seaman
— sailor, airman — flyer,
workman
— worker; if
not a man but a woman
of
the trade or profession, or a person
carrying
on some work is denoted by the word, the second element is woman,
as
chairwoman,
air-craftwoman, congresswoman, workwoman, airwoman.
Conversion
is
a very productive way of forming new words in English, chiefly
verbs
and not so often — nouns. This type of word formation presents one
of the
characteristic
features of Modern English. By conversion we mean derivation of a
new
word from the stem of a different part of speech without the addition
of any
formatives.
As a result the two words are homonymous, having the same
morphological
structure and belonging to different parts of speech.
Verbs
may be derived from the stem of almost any part of speech, but the
commonest
is the derivation from noun stems as: (a)
tube — (to) tube; (a) doctor —
(to)
doctor, (a) face—(to) face; (a) waltz—(to) waltz; (a) star—(to)
star; from
compound
noun stems as: (a)
buttonhole — (to) buttonhole; week-end — (to) weekend.
Derivations
from the stems of other parts of speech are less common: wrong—
(to)
wrong; up — (to) up; down — (to) down; encore — (to) encore.
Nouns
are
usually
derived from verb stems and may be instanced by such nouns as: (to)
make—
a
make; (to) cut—(a) cut; to bite — (a) bite, (to) drive — (a)
drive; to smoke — (a)
smoke;
(to) walk — (a) walk. Such
formations frequently make part of verb — noun
combinations
as: to
take a walk, to have a smoke, to have a drink, to take a drive, to
take
a bite, to give a smile and
others.
Nouns
may be also derived from verb-postpositive phrases. Such formations
are
very common in Modern English, as for instance: (to)
make up — (a) make-up;
(to)
call up — (a) call-up; (to) pull over — (a) pullover.
New
formations by conversion from simple or root stems are quite usual;
derivatives
from suffixed stems are rare. No verbal derivation from prefixed
stems is
found.
The
derived word and the deriving word are connected semantically. The
semantic
relations between the derived and the deriving word are varied and
sometimes
complicated. To mention only some of them: a) the verb signifies the
act
accomplished
by or by means of the thing denoted by the noun, as: to
finger means
‘to
touch with the finger, turn about in fingers’; to
hand means
‘to give or help with
the
hand, to deliver, transfer by hand’; b) the verb may have the meaning
‘to act as the
person
denoted by the noun does’, as: to
dog means
‘to follow closely’, to
cook — ‘to
prepare
food for the table, to do the work of a cook’; c) the derived verbs
may have
the
meaning ‘to go by’ or ‘to travel by the thing denoted by the noun’,
as, to
train
means
‘to go by train’, to
bus — ‘to
go by bus’, to
tube — ‘to
travel by tube’; d) ‘to
spend,
pass the time denoted by the noun’, as, to
winter ‘to pass
the winter’, to
weekend
— ‘to
spend the week-end’.
88
Derived
nouns denote: a) the act, as a
knock, a hiss, a smoke; or
b) the result of
an
action, as a
cut, a find, a call, a sip, a run.
A
characteristic feature of Modern English is the growing frequency of
new
formations
by conversion, especially among verbs.
Note.
A grammatical homonymy of two words of different parts of speech —
a
verb
and a noun, however, does not necessarily indicate conversion. It may
be the
result
of the loss of endings as well. For instance, if we take the
homonymic pair love
— to
love and
trace it back, we see that the noun love
comes
from Old English lufu,
whereas
the verb to
love—from
Old English lufian,
and
the noun answer
is
traced
back
to the Old English andswaru,
but
the verb to
answer to
Old English
andswarian;
so
that it is the loss of endings that gave rise to homonymy. In the
pair
bus
— (to) bus, weekend — (to) weekend homonymy
is the result of derivation by
conversion.
Shortenings
(abbreviations)
are words produced either by means of clipping
full
word or by shortening word combinations, but having the meaning of
the full
word
or combination. A distinction is to be observed between graphical
and
lexical
shortenings;
graphical abbreviations are signs or symbols that stand for the full
words
or combination of words only in written speech. The commonest form is
an
initial
letter or letters that stand for a word or combination of words. But
to prevent
ambiguity
one or two other letters may be added. For instance: p.
(page),
s.
(see),
b.
b.
(ball-bearing).
Mr
(mister),
Mrs
(missis),
MS
(manuscript),
fig.
(figure). In oral
speech
graphical abbreviations have the pronunciation of full words. To
indicate a
plural
or a superlative letters are often doubled, as: pp.
(pages). It is common practice
in
English to use graphical abbreviations of Latin words, and word
combinations, as:
e.
g. (exampli
gratia), etc.
(et cetera), i.
e. (id
est). In oral speech they are replaced by
their
English equivalents, ‘for
example’,
‘and
so on’,
‘namely‘,
‘that
is’,
‘respectively’.
Graphical
abbreviations are not words but signs or symbols that stand for the
corresponding
words. As for lexical
shortenings,
two main types of lexical
shortenings
may be distinguished: 1) abbreviations
or
clipped
words (clippings)
and
2) initial
words (initialisms).
Abbreviation
or
clipping
is
the result of reduction of a word to one of its
parts:
the meaning of the abbreviated word is that of the full word. There
are different
types
of clipping: 1) back-clipping—the
final part of the word is clipped, as: doc
—
from
doctor,
lab — from
laboratory,
mag — from
magazine,
math — from
mathematics,
prefab —
from prefabricated;
2) fore-clipping
—
the first part of the
word
is clipped as: plane
— from
aeroplane,
phone — from
telephone,
drome —
from
aerodrome.
Fore-clippings
are less numerous in Modern English; 3) the
fore
and
the back parts of the word are clipped and the middle of the word is
retained,
as: tec
— from
detective,
flu — from
influenza.
Words
of this type are few
in
Modern English. Back-clippings are most numerous in Modern English
and are
characterized
by the growing frequency. The original may be a simple word (as,
grad—from
graduate),
a
derivative (as, prep—from
preparation),
a
compound, (as,
foots
— from
footlights,
tails — from
tailcoat),
a
combination of words (as pub —
from
public
house, medico — from
medical
student). As
a result of clipping usually
nouns
are produced, as pram
— from
perambulator,
varsity — for
university.
In
some
89
rare
cases adjectives are abbreviated (as, imposs
—from
impossible,
pi — from
pious),
but
these are infrequent. Abbreviations or clippings are words of one
syllable
or
of two syllables, the final sound being a consonant or a vowel
(represented by the
letter
o), as, trig
(for
trigonometry),
Jap (for
Japanese),
demob (for
demobilized),
lino
(for
linoleum),
mo (for
moment).
Abbreviations
are made regardless of whether the
remaining
syllable bore the stress in the full word or not (cp. doc
from
doctor,
ad
from
advertisement).
The
pronunciation of abbreviations usually coincides with the
corresponding
syllable in the full word, if the syllable is stressed: as, doc
[‘dOk]
from
doctor
[‘dOktq];
if it is an unstressed syllable in the full word the pronunciation
differs,
as the abbreviation has a full pronunciation: as, ad
[xd],
but advertisement
[qd’vq:tismqnt].
There may be some differences in spelling connected with the
pronunciation
or with the rules of English orthoepy, as mike
— from
microphone,
bike
— from
bicycle,
phiz —
from physiognomy,
lube — from
lubrication.
The
plural
form
of the full word or combinations of words is retained in the
abbreviated word,
as,
pants
— from
pantaloons,
digs — from
diggings.
Abbreviations
do not differ from full words in functioning; they take the plural
ending
and that of the possessive case and make any part of a sentence.
New
words may be derived from the stems of abbreviated words by
conversion
(as
to
demob, to taxi, to perm) or
by affixation, chiefly by adding the suffix —y,
-ie,
deriving
diminutives and petnames (as, hanky
— from
handkerchief,
nighty (nightie)
— from
nightgown,
unkie — from
uncle,
baccy — from
tobacco,
aussie — from
Australians,
granny (ie)
— from grandmother).
In
this way adjectives also may be
derived
(as: comfy
— from
comfortable,
mizzy — from
miserable).
Adjectives
may be
derived
also by adding the suffix -ee,
as:
Portugee
— for
Portuguese,
Chinee — for
Chinese.
Abbreviations
do not always coincide in meaning with the original word, for
instance:
doc
and
doctor
have
the meaning ‘one who practises medicine’, but doctor
is
also
‘the highest degree given by a university to a scholar or scientist
and ‘a person
who
has received such a degree’ whereas doc
is
not used in these meanings. Among
abbreviations
there are homonyms, so that one and the same sound and graphical
complex
may represent different words, as vac
(vacation), vac (vacuum cleaner);
prep
(preparation), prep (preparatory school). Abbreviations
usually have synonyms
in
literary English, the latter being the corresponding full words. But
they are not
interchangeable,
as they are words of different styles of speech. Abbreviations are
highly
colloquial; in most cases they belong to slang. The moment the longer
word
disappears
from the language, the abbreviation loses its colloquial or slangy
character
and
becomes a literary word, for instance, the word taxi
is
the abbreviation of the
taxicab
which,
in its turn, goes back to taximeter
cab; both
words went out of use,
and
the word taxi
lost
its stylistic colouring.
Initial
abbreviations (initialisms)
are words — nouns — produced by
shortening
nominal combinations; each component of the nominal combination is
shortened
up to the initial letter and the initial letters of all the words of
the
combination
make a word, as: YCL — Young
Communist League, MP
—
Member
of Parliament. Initial
words are distinguished by their spelling in capital
letters
(often separated by full stops) and by their pronunciation — each
letter gets
90
its
full alphabetic pronunciation and a full stress, thus making a new
word as R.
A.
F. [‘a:r’ei’ef] — Royal
Air Force; TUC.
[‘ti:’ju:’si:] — Trades
Union Congress.
Some
of initial words may be pronounced in accordance with the’ rules of
orthoepy,
as N. A. T. O. [‘neitou], U. N. O. [‘ju:nou], with the stress on the
first
syllable.
The
meaning of the initial word is that of the nominal combination. In
speech
initial words function like nouns; they take the plural suffix, as
MPs, and
the
suffix of the possessive case, as MP’s, POW’s.
In
Modern English the commonest practice is to use a full combination
either
in
the heading or in the text and then quote this combination by giving
the first initial
of
each word. For instance, «Jack Bruce is giving UCS concert»
(the heading). «Jack
Bruce,
one of Britain’s leading rock-jazz musicians, will give a benefit
concert in
London
next week to raise money for the Upper Clyde shop stewards’ campaign»
(Morning
Star).
New
words may be derived from initial words by means of adding affixes,
as
YCL-er,
ex-PM, ex-POW; MP’ess, or adding the semi-suffix —man,
as
GI-man.
As
soon
as the corresponding combination goes out of use the initial word
takes its place
and
becomes fully established in the language and its spelling is in
small letters, as
radar
[‘reidq]
— radio detecting and ranging, laser
[‘leizq]
— light amplification by
stimulated
emission of radiation; maser
[‘meizq]
— microwave amplification by
stimulated
emission of radiation. There are also semi-shortenings, as, A-bomb
(atom
bomb),
H-bomber
(hydrogen
bomber), U-boat
(Untersee
boat) — German submarine.
The
first component of the nominal combination is shortened up to the
initial letter,
the
other component (or components) being full words.
4.7.
ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY: STRUCTURAL AND SEMANTIC
PECULIARITIES
OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS, THEIR CLASSIFICATION
The
outline of the problem discussed
1.
Main approaches to the definition of a phraseological unit in
linguistics.
2.
Different classifications of phraseological units.
3.
Grammatical and lexical modifications of phraseological units in
speech.
In
linguistics there are two main theoretical schools treating the
problems of
English
phraseology — that of N.N.Amosova and that of A. V. Kunin. We shall
not
dwell
upon these theories in detail, but we shall try to give the guiding
principles of
each
of the authors. According to the theory of N.N. Amosova. A
phraseological unit
is
a unit of constant context. It is a stable combination of words in
which either one of
the
components has a phraseologically bound meaning — a phraseme: white
lie –
невинная
ложь, husband
tea —
жидкий чай), or the meaning of each component is
weakened,
or entirely lost – (an idiom: red
tape —
бюрократия, mare’s
nest —
абсурд).
A. V. Kunin’s theory is based on the concept of specific stability at
the
phraseological
level; phraseological units are crtaracterized by a certain minimum
of
phraseological
stability. A.V. Kunin distinguishes stability of usage, structural
and
semantic
stability, stability of meaning and lexical constituents,
morphological
stability
and syntactical stability. The degree of stability may vary so that
there are
91
several
‘limits’ of stability. But whatever the degree of stability might
be, it is the
idiomatic
meaning that makes the characteristic feature of a phraseological
unit.
There
is one trend more worth mentioning in the theory of English
phraseology
that
of A. I. Smirnitsky. A.I. Smirnitsky takes as his guiding principle
the equivalence
of
a phraseological unit to a word. There are two characteristic
features that make a
phraseological
unit equivalent to a word, namely, the integrity of meaning and the
fact
that both the word and the phraseological unit are ready-made units
which are
reproduced
in speech and are not organized at the speaker’s will.
Whatever
the theory the term phraseology is applied to stable combinations of
words
characterized by the integrity of meaning which is completely or
partially
transferred,
e. g.: to
lead the dance проявлять
инициативу; to
take the cake
одержать
победу. Phraseological units are not to be mixed up with stable
combinations
of words that have their literal meaning, and are of non
phraseological
character,
e.g. the
back of the head, to come to an end.
Among
the phraseological units N.N.Amosova distinguishes idioms,
i.e.
phraseological
units characterized by the integral meaning of the whole, with the
meaning
of each component weakened or entirely lost. Hence, there are
motivated
and
demotivated
idioms.
In a motivated idiom the meaning of each component is
dependent
upon the transferred meaning of the whole idiom, e. g. to
look through
one’s
fingers (смотреть
сквозь пальцы); to
show one’s cards (раскрыть
свои
карты).
Phraseological units like these are homonymous to free syntactical
combinations.
Demotivated idioms are characterized by the integrity of meaning as a
whole,
with the meaning of each of the components entirely lost, e. g. white
elephant
(обременительное
или разорительное имущество), or to
show the white feather
(cтpycить).
But there are no hard and fast boundaries between them and there may
be
many
borderline cases. The second type of phraseological units in N.N.
Amosova’s
classification
is a phraseme.
It is a combination of words one element of which has a
phraseologically
bound meaning, e. g. small
years (детские
годы); small
beer
(слабое
пиво).
According
to A.I. Smirnitsky phraseological units may be classified in respect
to
their structure into one-summit
and
many-summit
phraseological units.
Onesummit
phraseological
units are composed of a notional and a form word, as, in
the
soup
—
быть в затруднительном положении, at
hand —
рядом, under
a cloud –
в
плохом
настроении, by
heart —
наизусть,
in the pink –
в расцвете. Many-summit
phraseological
units are composed of two or more notional words and form words as,
to
take the bull by the horns —
взять быка зарога,
to wear one’s heart on one’s
sleeve
—
выставлять свои чувства на показ, to
kill the goose that laid the golden
eggs
—
уничтожить источник благосостояния;
to
know on which side one’s bread
is
buttered —
быть себе на уме.
Academician
V.V.Vinogradov’s classification is based on the degree of
idiomaticity
and distinguishes three groups of phraseological units:
phraseological
fusions,
phraseological unities, phraseological collocations.
Phraseological
fusions are
completely non-motivated word-groups, e.g.: red
tape
– ‘bureaucratic
methods’; kick
the bucket – die,
etc. Phraseological
unities are
92
partially
non-motivated as their meaning can usually be understood through the
metaphoric
meaning of the whole phraseological unit, e.g.: to
show one’s teeth –
‘take
a threatening tone’; to
wash one’s dirty linen in public – ‘discuss
or make public
one’s
quarrels’.
Phraseological
collocations are
motivated but they are made up of
words
possessing specific lexical combinability which accounts for a
strictly limited
combinability
of member-words, e.g.: to
take a liking (fancy) but
not to
take hatred
(disgust).
There
are synonyms among phraseological units, as, through
thick and thin, by
hook
or by crook, for love or money —
во что бы то ни стало; to
pull one’s leg, to
make
a fool of somebody —
дурачить;
to hit the right nail on the head, to get the
right
sow by the ear —
попасть в точку.
Some
idioms have a variable component, though this variability is.
strictly
limited
as to the number and as to words themselves. The interchangeable
components
may be either synonymous, as
to fling (or throw) one’s (or the) cap over
the
mill (or windmill), to put (or set) one’s (or the) best foot first
(foremost, foreward)
or
different words, not connected semantically,
as to be (or sound, or read) like a
fairy
tale.
Some
of the idioms are polysemantic, as, at
large —
1) на свободе, 2) в
открытом
море, на большом пространстве, 3) без
определенной цели, 4) не
попавший
в цель, 5) свободный, без определенных
занятий, 6) имеющий
широкие
полномочия, 7) подробно, во всем объеме,
в целом, 9) вообще, не
конкретно.
It
is the context or speech situation that individualizes the meaning of
the
idiom
in each case.
When
functioning in speech, phraseological units form part of a sentence
and
consequently
may undergo grammatical and lexical changes. Grammatical changes
are
connected with the grammatical system of the language as a whole,
e.g.: He
didn’t
work,
and he spent a great deal of money, and he
painted the town red.
(W. S.
Maugham)
(to
paint the town red —
предаваться веселью). Here
the infinitive is
changed
into the Past Indefinite. Components of an idiom can be used in
different
clauses,
e.g.: …I
had to put up with, the
bricks they
dropped,
and their embarassment
when
they realized what they’d done.
(W. S. Maugham) (to
drop a brick —
допустить
бестактность).
Possessive
pronouns or nouns in the possessive case may be also added, as:
…the
apple of his uncle’s eye…(A.
Christie) (the
apple of one’s eye —
зеница ока).
But
there are phraseological units that do not undergo any changes, e.
g.: She
was
the friend in adversity; other people’s business was meat
and drink to her. (W.
S.
Maugham) (be)
meat and drink (to somebody)
— необходимо как воздух.
Thus,
we distinguish changeable and unchangeable phraseological units.
Lexical
changes are much more complicated and much more various. Lexical
modifications
of idioms achieve a stylistic and expressive effect. It is an
expressive
device
at the disposal of the writer or of the speaker. It is the integrity
of meaning that
makes
any modifications in idioms possible. Whatever modifications or
changes an
idiom
might’ undergo, the integrity of meaning is never broken. Idioms may
undergo
93
various
modifications. To take only some of them: a word or more may be
inserted to
intensify
and concretize the meaning, making it applicable to this particular
situation:
I
hate the idea of Larry making such
a mess of
his life.
(W. S. Maugham) Here the
word
such
intensifies
the meaning of the idiom. I
wasn’t keen on washing
this kind of
dirty
linen in
public. (C.
P. Snow) In this case the inserted this
kind makes
the
situation
concrete.
To
make the utterance more expressive one of the components of the idiom
may
be replaced by some other. Compare: You’re
a
dog in the manger,
aren’t you,
dear?
and: It was true enough: indeed she was a
bitch in the manger.
(A.
Christie)
The
word bitch
has
its own lexical meaning, which, however, makes part of the
meaning
of the whole idiom.
One
or more components of the idiom may be left out, but the integrity of
meaning
of the whole idiom is retained, e.g.: «I’ve
never spoken to you or anyone else
about
the last election. I suppose I’ve got to now. It’s better to
let it lie,»
said Brown.
(C.
P. Snow) In the idiom let
sleeping dogs lie two
of the elements are missing and it
refers
to the preceding text.
In
the following text the idiom to
have a card up one’s sleeve is
modified:
Bundle
wondered vaguely what it was that Bill had
or thought he had-up in his
sleeve.
(A, Christie) The component card
is
dropped and the word have
realizes
its
lexical
meaning. As a result an, allusive metaphor is achieved.
The
following text presents an interesting instance of modification: She
does
not
seem to think you are a
snake in the grass,
though she sees a good deal of grass
for
a snake to be in. (E.
Bowen) In the first part of the sentence the idiom a
snake in
the
grass is
used, and in the second part the words snake
and
grass
have
their own
lexical
meanings, which are, however, connected with the integral meaning of
the
idiom.
Lexical
modifications are made for stylistic purposes so as to create an
expressive
allusive metaphor.
LITERATURE
1.
Arnold I.V. The English Word. – М., 1986.
2.
Antrushina G.B. English Lexicology. – М., 1999.
3.
Ginzburg R.Z., Khidekel S.S. A Course in Modern English
Lexicology. – М.,
1975.
4.
Kashcheyeva M.A. Potapova I.A. Practical English lexicology. – L.,
1974.
5.
Raevskaya N.N. English Lexicology. – К., 1971.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A historiated illuminated initial
In a written or published work, an initial capital, also referred to as a drop capital or simply an initial cap, initial, initcapital, initcap or init or a drop cap or drop, is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is derived from the Latin initialis, which means standing at the beginning. An initial is often several lines in height and in older books or manuscripts are known as «inhabited» initials. Certain important initials, such as the Beatus initial or «B» of Beatus vir… at the opening of Psalm 1 at the start of a vulgate Latin. These specific initials in an illuminated manuscript were also called initiums.
In the present, the word «initial» commonly refers to the first letter of any word or name, the latter normally capitalized in English usage and is generally that of a first given name or a middle one or ones.
History[edit]
A set of sixteenth-century initial capitals
The 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 (c. 4th–6th century) both came into common use in Italy, the initials usually were set in the left margin (as in the third 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 manuscripts 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» effect, after the musical term). Subsequently, they became larger still, coloured, and penetrated farther and farther 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 invention, but did not come into their own until the later developments of Ottonian art, Anglo-Saxon art, and the Romanesque style in particular. After this period, in 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, the typesetters would leave blank the necessary space, so that the initials could be added later by a scribe or miniature painter. Later initials were printed using separate blocks in woodcut or metalcut techniques.
-
Greek biblical text from Papyrus 46, of c. 200, with no initials, punctuation, and barely spaces between words
-
Leaf from a Coptic 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 (Irish, 7th century)
-
One of thousands of smaller decorated initials from the Book of Kells
-
-
Large initial L from a Romanesque Bible
-
Opening from the Mainz Psalter, printed in 1457, with small printed and large drawn initials.
-
-
Two row-wide P initial, followed by small capitals
Since 2003, the W3C is working for initial letter modules for CSS Inline Layout Module Level 3, which standardized the output of initial letters for web pages.[1][2]
Types of initial[edit]
The initials are morphologically classified: the rubricated letter (red); the epigraphic letter, imitating ancient Roman majuscules; the figurated initial (usually in miniatures); the historiated initial, that gives spatial support to scenes of a narrative character; etc.
The initial may sit on the same baseline 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. An example follows (using Lorem ipsum nonsense text):
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.
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 by using the float: left; setting. A CSS-only solution alternatively can use the :first-letter pseudo-element. An example of this format is the following paragraph:
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. 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.
See also[edit]
- Calligraphy – Visual art related to writing
- Middle initial – Abbreviation of middle name
- Monogram – Motif made by overlapping two or more letters
- Typography – Art of arranging type
References[edit]
- ^ Dave Cramer; Elika J. Etemad; Steve Zilles (8 August 2018). «CSS Inline Layout Module Level 3». W3C Working Draft. World Wide Web Consortium. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- ^ Marcotte, Ethan (17 June 2019). «Drop caps & design systems». Vox Product Blog. Vox Media. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
Further reading[edit]
- Stiebner, Erhardt D; Urban, Dieter (1985), Initials and Decorative Alphabets, Poole, ENG, UK: Blandford, ISBN 0-7137-1640-1.
External links[edit]
Look up initial in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Initials.
- Typolis.de
- Types of illuminated initials in the Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture
- Ornamento 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 by Book Historian on Flickr.com
- Alphabets & Letters at Reusableart.com
- Make the letter bigger: A history of initials at ilovetypography.com