b'UNCIALIts origins are murky, from Greece, to Northern Africa to just evolving from Roman Cursive, most likely a blending evolution, but it is certain that the sturdy, round Uncial was the faster way to write in the early centuries of the first millennium than the more formal Square Capitals it began to replace. The Square Caps were then reserved for more formal documents. The name Uncial, referring to the letter style, did not come into common use until the 19th century. r It is usually written with a broad-edged tool such as a C-Series nib or a flat brush at angles that can range from nearly flat to 20 or 30 (about 20 in the earliest Roman examples, but the pen angle flattened over time as it approached the 600s). As the angle flattens, though, the letters construction becomes more complex.r As Uncial is primarily a majuscule script, there are noascenders or descenders. But there are letterslike D, H, K, L and F, Q, P, Ywith what Sheila Waters has termed extensions, the clear ancestors of later minuscule forms ascenders and descenders. However much a scribe here in the 21st century extends them depends upon her or his judiciousnessor audacity. rCRSachin Shah20'