Editing Serif (section)

==Origins and etymology==
Serifs originated from the first official Greek writings on stone and in [[Latin alphabet]] with [[Roman square capitals|inscriptional lettering]]—words carved into stone in Roman [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]]. The explanation proposed by Father [[Edward Catich]] in his 1968 book ''The Origin of the Serif'' is now broadly but not universally accepted: the Roman letter outlines were first painted onto stone, and the stone carvers followed the brush marks, which flared at stroke ends and corners, creating serifs. Another theory is that serifs were devised to neaten the ends of lines as they were chiselled into stone.<ref name=Samara>{{cite book|last=Samara|first=Timothy|title=Typography workbook: a real-world guide to using type in graphic design|year=2004|publisher=Rockport Publishers|isbn=978-1-59253-081-6|page=240|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21|access-date=2020-10-28|archive-date=2024-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075231/https://books.google.com/books?id=denl7KWyM4EC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Goldberg|first=Rob|title=Digital Typography: Practical Advice for Getting the Type You Want When You Want It|year=2000|publisher=Windsor Professional Information|isbn=978-1-893190-05-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold/page/264 264]|url=https://archive.org/details/digitaltypograph0000gold |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Linotype Bulletin|date=January–February 1921|page=265|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7|access-date=26 October 2011|archive-date=9 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209075214/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4bnAAAAMAAJ&q=serif+chisel&pg=PA266-IA7#v=snippet&q=serif%20chisel&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The origin of the word 'serif' is obscure, but apparently is almost as recent as the type style. The book ''The British Standard of the Capital Letters contained in the Roman Alphabet, forming a complete code of systematic rules for a mathematical construction and accurate formation of the same'' (1813) by [[William Hollins]], defined 'surripses', usually pronounced "surriphs", as "projections which appear at the tops and bottoms of some letters, the O and Q excepted, at the beginning or end, and sometimes at each, of all". The standard also proposed that 'surripsis' may be a Greek word derived from {{lang|grc|σῠν-}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'syn-'}}, "together") and {{lang|grc|ῥῖψῐς}} ({{Transliteration|grc|'rhîpsis'}}, "projection").

In 1827, Greek scholar [[Julian Hibbert]] printed with his own experimental [[uncial]] Greek types, remarking that the types of [[Giambattista Bodoni]]'s ''Callimachus'' were "ornamented (or rather disfigured) by additions of what [he] believe[s] type-founders call syrifs or cerefs". The printer [[Thomas Curson Hansard]] referred to them as "ceriphs" in 1825.<ref name="Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing">{{cite book|last1=Hansard|first1=Thomas Curson|title=Typographia, an Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Art of Printing|date=1825|page=[https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog/page/n432 370]|url=https://archive.org/details/typographiaanhi01hansgoog|access-date=12 August 2015}}</ref> The oldest citations in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED'') are 1830 for 'serif' and 1841 for 'sans serif'. The ''OED'' speculates that 'serif' was a [[back-formation]] from 'sanserif'.

''[[Webster's Third New International Dictionary]]'' traces 'serif' to the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] noun {{lang|nl|schreef}}, meaning "line, stroke of the pen", related to the verb {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, "to delete, strike through" ({{lang|nl|'schreef'}} now also means "serif" in Dutch). Yet, {{lang|nl|schreef}} is the past tense of {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write). The relation between {{lang|nl|schreef}} and {{lang|nl|schrappen}} is documented by Van Veen and Van der Sijs.<ref>''Etymologisch Woordenboek'' (Van Dale, 1997).</ref> In her book {{lang|nl|Chronologisch Woordenboek}},<ref>(Veen, 2001).</ref> Van der Sijs lists words by first known publication in the language area that is the Netherlands today:
* {{lang|nl|schrijven}}, 1100;
* {{lang|nl|schreef}}, 1350;
* {{lang|nl|schrappen}}, 1406 (i.e. {{lang|nl|schreef}} is from {{lang|nl|schrijven}} (to write), not from {{lang|nl|schrappen}} (to scratch, eliminate by strike-through)).

The ''OED''{{'}}s earliest citation for "grotesque" in this sense is 1875, giving 'stone-letter' as a [[synonym]]. It would seem to mean "out of the ordinary" in this usage, as in art 'grotesque' usually means "elaborately decorated". Other synonyms include "Doric" and "Gothic", commonly used for [[Japanese Gothic typeface]]s.<ref name="A Neo-Grotesque Heritage">{{cite web|last1=Berry|first1=John|title=A Neo-Grotesque Heritage|url=http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|publisher=Adobe Systems|access-date=15 October 2015|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016002936/http://acumin.typekit.com/history/|url-status=live}}</ref>