| Title: | A (alphabet character) |
| Original Title: | A, caractere alphabétique |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 1 (1751), pp. 5–6 |
| Author: | Denis Diderot (biography) |
| Translator: | Mark K. Jensen [Pacific Lutheran University] |
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.439 |
| Citation (MLA): | Diderot, Denis. "A (alphabet character)." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Mark K. Jensen. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2017. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.439>. Trans. of "A, caractere alphabétique," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 1. Paris, 1751. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Diderot, Denis. "A (alphabet character)." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Mark K. Jensen. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0003.439 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "A, caractere alphabétique," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1:5–6 (Paris, 1751). |
A, alphabetic character. After having given the various meanings of the letter A, we have only now to speak of the way of tracing it.
The a in round hand [1] is composed of three half-circles, or a round o and a half- o, observing upstrokes and downstrokes. In order to determine the place of the upstrokes and downstrokes, imagine a rhombus on one of its sides; the base and the upper side, and the parallel to the base, will mark the place of the upstrokes; and the two other sides will mark the place of the downstrokes. See Rhombus.
In écriture coulée , [2] the a is composed of three half-circles, or rather ovals, or of an o coulé , and a half- o coulé : as for the place of upstrokes and downstrokes, they should be determined in the same way as in round hand: but one must refer them back to a rhomboid. See Rhomboid.
In bastarda, [3] it is made from three quarters of an oval e [sic] , and from an initial upright stroke, but one terminated by a curve, forming the a by finishing the oval.
The first part, whether round or oval, of the a, is formed by a compound movement of fingers and wrist; and the second part, from the movement of the fingers alone, except toward the end of the curvature of the stroke that flattens either the o or the oval, forming the a, in which the wrist helps the fingers a little. See on these letters our plates, and on other kinds of writing, the Precepts of Messrs. Rosallet and Durel.
1. The writing referred to as écriture ronde would appear to be that now known as écriture anglaise in its round (as opposed to Italian) form. It was also known as écriture anglaise ronde, and had its origin in England in the 1660s. It had in France in the 18th century replaced an earlier écriture ronde , which had been introduced in the late 16th century.
2. Écriture coulée is a kind of manuscript writing that originated in the 17th century.
3. Bastarda, one variant of which was la grosse bâtarde (the term used here), had its origins in the Burgundian Netherlands and Germany during the 14th and 15th centuries. Gutenberg produced a bastarda type in 1454/55.