CAPITALS (majuscule!), the large letters used in writing and printing, most commonly as the initial letters of certain words, or of all words in certain positions, and distinguished from the small letters (rninuscula). As among the ancient Greeks and Romans, so also in the early part of the Middle Ages, all books were written without any distinction in the kind of letters used; but gradually the practice became common of beginning a book, subsequently, also, the chief divisions and sections of a book, with a large capital letter, usually illuminated and otherwise richly ornamented. In legal or state documents of the 13th century capital letters are found dispersed over the text as the initial letters of proper names, and of the names of the Deity, and in the next century the same usage was followed in ordinary manuscripts. The practice with regard to the use of capitals varies in different countries. Sentences and proper names begin almost universally with capitals, but there are several other cases in which the usage is not so general. In English there cannot be said to be any invariable rule regulating their use. The first personal pro
noun is always written and printed with a capi tal letter, and it is common also to begin titles and the names of well-known public bodies, societies, institutions, etc., with capitals. For merly, it was a frequent practice to begin all substantives in English with a capital, which is still the rule in German. The Germans also be gin all titles and pronouns of address with capi tals, but not the first personal pronoun. One point in which the English practice differs from that of Germany, France, Italy and other con tinental countries, is in beginning adjectives derived from proper names, such as Spanish, Italian, etc., like proper names themselves, with capitals, such adjectives being printed in other countries entirely with small letters. See AL PHABET; WRITING, and consult Pron, (Manuel de paleographie latine' (3d ed., Paris 1910) ; Thompson, E. M., 'Greek and Latin Palmog raphy) (Oxford 1912). '