G4.  Letterforms I/J, U/V, i/j, and u/v

G4.1.  Historical background

Some knowledge of the history of printing as it applies to I/J, U/V, i/j, and u/v is helpful when applying the provisions of 0G2.2.

Until the early seventeenth century, the standard Latin alphabet contained 23 letters.  The letters we know as i and j were considered different minuscule shapes (or letterforms) of the same letter, as were the letters u and v.  The letter w was not part of the standard Latin alphabet.  A printer’s choice for the u letterform in preference to the v letterform (or the i to the j) depended on its placement in a word and was governed by convention.  Conventions varied somewhat from printer to printer, but often reflected national and regional preferences.  While there were variant letterforms for lowercase letters, in the pre-modern distribution there was only one letterform for each of these letters used as capitals:  I (with the gothic form resembling a modern J), and V (with the gothic form resembling a modern U).  For example, = Iacob; = Vnspotted (capitalized as the first word of a title).

The dominant patterns in use before the seventeenth century were:

i used in the initial, medial, and final position, without signifying vocalic or consonantal use; e.g., iustice (modern form: justice)

j used in the medial or final position only after a preceding i (more typical on the European continent), signifying vocalic use; e.g., commentarij (modern form: commentarii)

u used in the initial, medial or final position, without signifying vocalic or consonantal use; e.g., oeuures (modern form: oeuvres)

v used in the initial position, without signifying vocalic or consonantal use; e.g., vtilita (modern form: utilita)

I used in all positions, without signifying vocalic or consonantal use; e.g., Iuan (modern form: Juan)

V used in all positions, without signifying vocalic or consonantal use; e.g., Vrsprung (modern form: Ursprung)

A gradual shift took place over time, from the late fifteenth century through the middle of the seventeenth century, with U/u coming to phonetically signify a vowel and V/v to signify a consonant, regardless of case or position in the word.  Likewise with i and j, although that shift was more irregular, with I/i coming to phonetically signify a vowel and J/j a consonant.  In the modern 26-letter Latin alphabet, i and j and u and v are all considered separate letters.

G4.2.  Transcription

As instructed in rule 0G2.2, when the rules for capitalization require converting I or V to lowercase, or i, j, u, or v to uppercase (FNG-1), follow the pattern of usage in the text to determine which letterform to use in the transcription.  Establish the pattern of usage by examining text in the same typeface (i.e., roman, italic, or gothic) in the publication being described.  Look for letters expressed in the opposite case from the letterforms to be converted, but having the same function (vowel or consonant) and same relative position (appearing in initial, medial, or final positions) as the letterforms to be converted.  Begin by examining the remainder of the title page and then, if necessary, proceed to examine the body of the text in other parts of the book in the same typeface.  If the pattern of usage cannot be determined within a reasonable amount of time, use this conversion table as a solution of last resort.

See also:

Appendix G.  Early Letterforms and Symbols