Etymology Dictionary

UNCIAL,  pertaining to a certain style of writing.  (L.)   'Uncial, belonging to an ounce or inch;' Blount, ed. 1674.   Applied to a particular form of letters in MSS. from the 4th to the 10th centuries.   The letters are of large size, and the name was prob. applied at first to large initial letters, as the word signifies 'of the size of an inch.'   Phillips gives uncial only in its other sense, viz. 'belonging to an ounce.'   Cotgrave gives F. oncial, 'weighing as much as an ounce;' but he also gives lettres onciales, 'huge letters, great letters.'—Lat. uncialis, belonging to an inch, or to an ounce.—Lat. uncia, an inch, an ounce.   See Inch and Ounce (1).