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| Illuminated capital "R" with Celtic knots and clover. |
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| Illuminated capital "R" in red. |
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| Another illuminated capital "R" shaped from Celtic knots. |
Additional Illuminated letter "R"s will be uploaded here in the future. Please read the Terms of Use for images found on this page. All letters are restored and sometimes redrawn by Kathy Grimm.
R (named ar/or /ɑr/) is the 18th letter of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet.
The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for /r/ by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš (also the name of the letter). It developed into Greek 'Ρ' ῥῶ (rhô) and Latin R.
The descending stroke develops as a graphic variant in some Western Greek alphabets (writing rho as 
), but it was not adopted in most Old Italic alphabets; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their rho
between a "P" and a "D" shape, but without the Western Greek descending
stroke. Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of
the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the Duenos and the Forum inscription, still write r using the "P" shape of the letter. The Lapis Satricanus inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the p and the Ρ shape of the r
have become difficult to distinguish. The descending stroke of the
Latin letter R has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the
Tomb of the Scipios sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. At the same time, the letter P could now be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by R. Read more . . .
), but it was not adopted in most Old Italic alphabets; most Old Italic alphabets show variants of their rho
between a "P" and a "D" shape, but without the Western Greek descending
stroke. Indeed, the oldest known forms of the Latin alphabet itself of
the 7th to 6th centuries BC, in the Duenos and the Forum inscription, still write r using the "P" shape of the letter. The Lapis Satricanus inscription shows the form of the Latin alphabet around 500 BC. Here, the rounded, closing Π shape of the p and the Ρ shape of the r
have become difficult to distinguish. The descending stroke of the
Latin letter R has fully developed by the 3rd century BC, as seen in the
Tomb of the Scipios sarcophagus inscriptions of that era. At the same time, the letter P could now be written with its loop fully closed, assuming the shape formerly taken by R. Read more . . .
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