Editing Latin alphabet (section)

====Classical Latin alphabet====
After the [[Roman conquest of Greece]] in the 1st century BC, Latin adopted the Greek letters {{angle bracket|Y}} and {{angle bracket|Z}} (or readopted, in the latter case) to write [[Greek language|Greek]] loanwords, placing them at the end of the alphabet. An attempt by the emperor [[Claudius]] to introduce three [[Claudian letters|additional letters]] {{angle bracket|Ↄ, Ⅎ, Ⱶ}} did not last. Thus it was during the [[classical Latin]] period that the Latin alphabet contained 21 letters and 2 foreign letters:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Classical Latin alphabet
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Letter
! [[A]] !! [[B]] !! [[C]] !! [[D]] !! [[E]] !! [[F]] !! [[G]] !! [[H]] !! [[I]] !! [[K]] !! [[L]] !! [[M]] !! [[N]] !! [[O]] !! [[P]] !! [[Q]] !! [[R]] !! [[S]] !! [[T]] !! [[V]] !! [[X]] !! [[Y]] !! [[Z]]
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Latin name (majus)
| {{sm|á}} || {{sm|bé}} || {{sm|cé}} || {{sm|dé}} || {{sm|é}} || {{sm|ef}} || {{sm|gé}} || {{sm|há}} || {{sm|ꟾ}} || {{sm|ká}} || {{sm|el}} || {{sm|em}} || {{sm|en}} || {{sm|ó}} || {{sm|pé}} || {{sm|q}}{{sm|v́}} || {{sm|er}} || {{sm|es}} || {{sm|té}} || {{sm|v́}} || {{sm|ix}} || {{sm|ꟾ graeca}} || {{sm|zéta}}
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Transliteration
| ''ā'' || ''bē'' || ''cē ''|| ''dē ''|| ''ē'' || ''ef'' || ''gē ''|| ''hā'' || ''ī'' || ''kā ''|| ''el'' || ''em'' || ''en'' || ''ō ''|| ''pē'' || ''qū ''|| ''er'' || ''es ''|| ''tē'' || ''ū'' || ''ix ''|| {{nowrap|''ī Graeca''}} || ''zēta''
|-
! style="text-align:left" | Latin pronunciation ([[Help:IPA/Latin|IPA]])
| {{IPA|aː}} || {{IPA|beː}} || {{IPA|keː}} || {{IPA|deː}} || {{IPA|eː}} || {{IPA|ɛf}} || {{IPA|ɡeː}} || {{IPA|haː}} || {{IPA|iː}} || {{IPA|kaː}} || {{IPA|ɛl}} || {{IPA|ɛm}} || {{IPA|ɛn}} || {{IPA|oː}} || {{IPA|peː}} || {{IPA|kuː}} || {{IPA|ɛr}} || {{IPA|ɛs}} || {{IPA|teː}} || {{IPA|uː}} || {{IPA|iks}} || {{IPA|iː&nbsp;ˈɡraɪka}} || {{IPA|ˈdzeːta}}
|}

[[File:Inscription displaying apices (from the shrine of the Augustales at Herculaneum).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The [[Apex (diacritic)|apices]] in this first-century inscription are very light. (There is one over the {{sm|ó}} in the first line.) The vowel ''I'' is written taller rather than taking an apex. The [[interpunct]]s are comma-shaped, an elaboration of a more typical triangular shape. From the shrine of the [[Sodales Augustales|Augustales]] at [[Herculaneum]].]]

The Latin names of some of these letters are disputed; for example, {{angle bracket|H}} may have been called {{IPA|la|ˈaha|}} or {{IPA|la|ˈaka|}}.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://blog.oup.com/2013/08/alphabet-soup-letter-h-y-origin-etymology/ |title = Alphabet soup, part 2: H and Y |last=Liberman|first=Anatoly|date=7 August 2013|work=Oxford Etymologist|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=3 October 2013}}</ref> In general the Romans did not use the traditional ([[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]]-derived) names as in Greek: the names of the [[plosives]] were formed by adding {{IPA|/eː/}} to their sound (except for {{angle bracket|K}} and {{angle bracket|Q}}, which needed different vowels to be distinguished from {{angle bracket|C}}) and the names of the [[continuant]]s consisted as a rule either of the bare sound, or the sound preceded by {{IPA|/e/}}.

The letter {{angle bracket|Y}} when introduced was probably called "hy" {{IPA|/hyː/}} as in Greek, the name [[upsilon]] not being in use yet, but this was changed to {{lang|la|i Graeca}} ("Greek i") as Latin speakers had difficulty distinguishing its foreign sound {{IPA|/y/}} from {{IPA|/i/}}. {{angle bracket|Z}} was given its Greek name, [[zeta (letter)|zeta]]. This scheme has continued to be used by most modern European languages that have adopted the Latin alphabet. For the Latin sounds represented by the various letters see [[Latin spelling and pronunciation]]; for the names of the letters in English see [[English alphabet]].

[[diacritic mark|Diacritics]] were not regularly used, but they did occur sometimes, the most common being the [[apex (diacritic)|apex]] used to mark [[long vowel]]s, which had previously sometimes been written doubled. However, in place of taking an apex, the letter i was written [[long i|taller]]: {{angle bracket|{{sm|á é ꟾ ó v́}}}}. For example, what is today transcribed {{lang|la|Lūciī a fīliī}} was written {{angle bracket|{{sm|lv́ciꟾ·a·fꟾliꟾ}}}} in the inscription depicted.
Some letters have more than one form in [[epigraphy]].
Latinists have treated some of them especially such as {{angbr|[[Ꟶ]]}}, a variant of {{angbr|H}} found in [[Roman Gaul]].
[[File:Musée Saint-Raymond - 2016-06-18 - US 2185 - 2037.jpg|thumb|Inscription with triangle-shaped interpunct]]
The primary mark of punctuation was the [[interpunct]], which was used as a [[word divider]], though it fell out of use after 200 AD.

[[Old Roman cursive]] script, also called [[majuscule]] cursive and capitalis cursive, was the everyday form of handwriting used for writing letters, by merchants writing business accounts, by schoolchildren learning the Latin alphabet, and even emperors issuing commands. A more formal style of writing was based on [[Roman square capitals]], but cursive was used for quicker, informal writing. It was most commonly used from about the 1st century BC to the 3rd century, but it probably existed earlier than that. It led to [[Uncial script|Uncial]], a [[majuscule]] script commonly used from the [[3rd century|3rd]] to [[8th century|8th]] centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes.
[[Tironian notes]] were a [[shorthand]] system consisting of thousands of signs.

[[New Roman cursive]] script, also known as [[lower case|minuscule]] cursive, was in use from the 3rd century to the 7th century, and uses letter forms that are more recognizable to modern eyes; {{angle bracket|a}}, {{angle bracket|b}}, {{angle bracket|d}}, and {{angle bracket|e}} had taken a more familiar shape, and the other letters were proportionate to each other. This script evolved into a variety of regional medieval scripts (for example, the [[Merovingian script|Merovingian]], [[Visigothic script|Visigothic]] and [[Beneventan script|Benevantan]] scripts), to be later supplanted by the [[Carolingian minuscule]].