Proposals for Additional Latin Characters in Unicode
NEWS ABOUT LATIN UNICODE PROPOSALS
7/16/06 Draft
of proposal for additional Roman characters posted
(PDF file, 2 megabytes due to large number of scanned examples). Comments needed by July 30 so that the
proposal can be considered at the August 8 meeting of the Unicode Technical
Committee. These are mainly characters
of interest to epigraphers (centurial sign, I longa, etc.). You can skip the first two pages, which are a
cover sheet.
6/29/06 The
proposal to Unicode for Roman weight and coin symbols was generally well
received at the May meeting of Unicode Technical Committee, but some of the
committee members had questions about the advisability of encoding one
character that has many forms that differ greatly from each other. I have prepared a
paper that addresses this issue; comments welcome.
6/13/06 A
paper discussing issues relating to Roman numerals in
Unicode has been posted; comments are welcome! The discussion in this document may lead to
three new characters to be proposed.
5/8/06 The
final draft of the proposal for Roman weight and coin symbols is now posted here. This has
been submitted to the Unicode Technical Committee for consideration at their
May meeting.
4/18/06 Version
4 of the list of Latin characters posted; many
changes and additions.
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION AND RATIONALE
Although most characters
that are needed for classical Latin are already in Unicode, some are not. These are mainly characters needed by
epigraphers and numismatists, some of which may occur in literary texts also.
It is important for
Latinists to work to get the characters we need encoded now. It may not be as easy in the future to get
characters added as it is at the present time.
Greek is in very good shape thanks to the work done by the TLG staff;
they carefully analyzed the texts in their database and submitted successful
proposals for the characters that needed to be encoded. Latinists need to do this same work.
I have been involved with
computers and font issues since the mid-1980s, particularly as they relate to
the needs of scholars. Since no one else
has undertaken this work, and since it really needs to be done, I have decided
to tackle it. I have a master’s degree
in Latin but am not a professional epigrapher or numismatist, so I welcome
input from those who know more about these fields than I do.
ENCODING
PRINCIPLES
·
idiosyncratic
characters (used infrequently by one author) are normally not good candidates
for encoding
·
characters
whose function or meaning is not understood will not meet with Unicode approval
·
ligatures
of existing characters are not encoded
·
characters
that can be made up of existing letters and combining accents (precomposed
combinations) will not be added under any circumstances
·
if
a character already exists in Unicode that might do the job, we need either to
adopt it or show why it is not adequate
·
characters
that are simply differently shaped variants of existing characters are normally
not encoded (exceptions may occur; email me with any such questions)
·
evidence
must be supplied to show the character in use.
The best evidence is scans of printed texts, backed up as appropriate by
scans of manuscripts or photos of coins or inscriptions.
·
monograms
on coins are a difficult issue, and I don’t think I can deal with them now
(maybe later)
PROCESS
Right now I anticipate two
proposals. The first one will cover
monetary signs (denarius, sestertius, etc.).
These are very important, easy to document, and should not be
controversial. If at all possible, I
would like to get this one ready for the May meeting of the Unicode Technical
Committee, which means it should be done by the end of April. I’ve already written a draft which I will
post here as soon as it is a bit more polished.
A second proposal will cover all additional characters and may be
submitted in the fall.
HOW
TO HELP WITH THIS PROJECT
If you know of characters
needed by Latinists that are missing from Unicode, please do the following:
·
read
the “Encoding Principles” in the section above
·
read
the list of Latin characters that are already known
·
email me with any comments on characters in the list or
characters to be added
·
if
you have characters to be added, it will be most helpful if you can supply
evidence to be used in the proposal (scans of books or clear photos of
coins/inscriptions)
·
to
see examples of well-prepared, successful proposals to Unicode, look at the
University of California website where the TLG proposals are
archived
❧ GRÁTIÁS MAXIMÁS OMNIBVS ☙
UPDATE HISTORY
7/16/06 proposal
for additional characters posted
6/29/06 discussion
about characters with many different glyph variants posted
6/13/06 discussion
about Roman numerals in Unicode posted
5/08/06 final
version of the Unicode proposal for weights and money posted
4/23/06 first
public version of the official Unicode proposal for weights and money posted;
now archived here.
4/18/06 version
4 of the character list posted; version 3 is archived here.
4/10/06 version
3 of the character list posted; version 2 is archived here.
3/29/06: first
version of this page posted, along with version 2 (first public version) of the
character list.
Last updated July 16,
2006