Long I

In inscriptions dating to the early Roman Empire, it is used frequently but inconsistently to transcribe the long vowel {{IPA|/iː/}}. In Gordon's 1957 study of inscriptions, it represented this vowel approximately 4% of the time in the 1st century CE, then 22.6% in the 2nd century, 11% in the 3rd, and not at all from the 4th century onward,{{cite book|last=Gordon|first=A. E.|date=1957|title=Contributions to the Palaeography of Latin inscriptions|page=216}} reflecting a loss of phonemic vowel length by this time (one of the phonological changes from Classical Latin to Proto-Romance). In this role it is equivalent to the (also inconsistently-used) apex, which can appear on any long vowel: {{angle bracket|{{sm|á é í ó v́}}}} {{IPA|/aː eː iː oː uː/}}. An example would be {{angbr|{{sm|fIliI}}}}, which is generally spelled {{lang|la|fīliī}} today, using macrons rather than apices to indicate long vowels. On rare occasions, an apex could combine with long i to form {{angbr|{{sm|Í}}}}, e.g. {{angbr|{{sm|dÍs·mánibus}}}}.

The long i could also be used to indicate the semivowel [j], e.g. {{angle bracket|IVSTVS}} or {{angle bracket|CVIIVS}},{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Sydney |date=1978 |title=Vox Latina: The Pronunciation of Classical Latin |edition=2nd |location=Gateshead, England |publisher=Athenaeum Press |pages=37–39 |isbn=0-521-22049-1}} the latter also {{angle bracket|CVIVS}}, pronounced {{IPA|[ˈjus̠tus̠, ˈkujːus̠]}}. It was also used to write a close allophone {{IPA|[i]}} of the short i phoneme, used before another vowel, as in {{angbr|CLAVDIO}}, representing {{IPA|[ˈklau̯.di.oː]}}.Allen, Vox Latina, pp. 51-52, giving the examples {{sm|dIes, prIvsqvam, pIvs}}

Later on in the late Empire and afterwards, in some forms of New Roman cursive, as well as pre-Carolingian scripts of the Early Middle Ages such as Visigothic or Merovingian, it came to stand for the vowel {{angle bracket|i}} in word-initial position. For example, {{angbr|iNponunt in umeroſ}}, which would be {{lang|la|inpōnunt in umerōs}} in modern spelling.

The character exists in Unicode as U+A7FE {{sm|latin epigraphic letter i longa}}, {{angle bracket|ꟾ}}, having been suggested in a 2006 proposal.{{cite web

|url = https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06269-add-roman.pdf

|title = Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS

|author = Davud J. Perry

|date = 2006-08-01

|access-date = 2018-09-30

}}

Scriptura con apices Nimes 1750.jpg|Roman inscription, ca. AD 100, showing long i's contrasting with apices on other vowels, for example {{sm|órnámentIs}} in line 3 (besides other words), representing the vowel {{IPA|/iː/}}.

Ara a Tibério Cláudio MNArqueologia.tif|Roman inscription, ca. AD 45, showing a use of the long i letter for the close {{IPA|[i]}} sound of Latin short ĭ before a vowel: {{sm|claudIo}}.

Roman grave inscription, AD 69, long i with apex.jpg|Roman inscription, ca. AD 69, showing a rare use of long i with an apex in line 1, {{sm|dÍs mánibus}}.

I_littera_in_manuscripto.jpg|Roman letter in Old Roman cursive, ca. AD 50 from Claudius' reign, showing handwritten long i's: rebus iis · iúdicibus (line 2), imponátur qui · intrá (line 3).

New Roman Cursive i longum, 6th century.png|Manuscript samples in New Roman cursive from the 6th century. Top: quantum s(upra)s(cripto) emptori interfuerit. Bottom: tenentes igitur palestini.

Lectionnaire de Luxeuil i longum 80v 81r.png|Manuscript samples in Merovingian script from ca. AD 700. Top: et inponunt in umeros hominum. Bottom: in synagogis · et salutationis in foro.

Codex Vigilanus, Vigila scriba, folio 22v.jpg|Codex Vigilanus, from the late 10th century in Visigothic script, folio 22v, preface of Vigila the scribe (pictured). The first line contains three examples of long i: in exordio igitur hui[u]s.

{{Reflist}}

• Apex (diacritic)

{{Latin script|I|}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:I, long}}

Category:Latin-script letters

Category:Epigraphic letter variants

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