On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 11:24:17 +0200, fantasai wrote: > > If a Latin initialism appears in a bottom-to-top text > and the characters are oriented upright rather than > rotated, should the initialism read up or down? > > U A > S or S ? > A U >
In traditional monumental inscriptions which have both Ogham text and Latin or Runic text, the Ogham text is always separate from the Latin/Runic text, and so the issue of how to combine a vertical script (Ogham) with a horizontal script (Latin/Runic) never arises. If you're writing modern Ogham on paper or computer screen you would be best advised to write it LTR, and then you won't have any problems with embedding Latin text in it. If you insist on writing it bottom-to-top, then my guess would be that embedded "USA" should read top-to-bottom as that's the preferred vertical directionality of Latin text ... but does it really matter how it's rendered as it should be obvious from context. Anyway, the whole issue seems a little too hypothetical, even for me. Andrew
