Since Ecclesiastical Latin uses the same 26 letters as modern English, any QWERT or AZERTY keyboard can be used to type in Latin. However, if one should like to use macrons or accents without using the symbols feature in a word processor, there are a few different things that can be done.
Add the Māori keyboard to your system.
1. Click on the Apple logo in the top left of your screen and choose System Preferences.
2. Click Language & Region.
3. Click Keyboard Preferences.
4. Click the + icon and find Māori in the list.
5. Click Add.
6. Optionally, tick Show input menu in menu bar (this will make it easier to switch between languages/keyboards).
Then, you will simply need to press and hold the option key while typing the vowel that you want marked with a macron.
Add the Māori keyboard to your system.
Then, you will simply need to press the tilde key (~) before typing the vowel that you want marked with a macron.
As of the publication of this page, neither Windows or Mac offer a keyboard or virtual keyboard that allows one to type the full gamut of accented Latin vowels with only a few keystrokes. Therefore, it is typically necessary to either use the symbols/special characters menu in a word processor (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.) or use Unicode.
To type Unicode characters on Mac, add the Unicode Hex Input virtual keyboard.
1. Click on the Apple logo in the top left of your screen and choose System Preferences.
2. Click Language & Region.
3. Click Keyboard Preferences.
4. Click the + icon and find Unicode Hex Input in the list.
5. Click Add.
6. Optionally, tick Show input menu in menu bar (this will make it easier to switch between languages/keyboards).
Then, you will simply need to press and hold the option key while typing the Unicode. For example, to type á, press and hold option + 00E1.
To type Unicode characters in Windows, type the character code, then press the ALT key, and then press the X key. For example, to type á, the key sequence is 0, 0, E, 1, ALT, X.
– Á: 00C1
– É: 00C9
– Í: 00CD
– Ó: 00D3
– Ú: 00DA
– Ý: 00DD
– Ā: 0100 (or A + 0304)
– Ē: 00112
– Ī: 012A
– Ō: 014C
– Ū: 016A
– Ȳ: 0232
– Æ: 00C6
– æ: 00E6
– Ǣ: 01E2
– ǣ: 01E3
– Ǽ: 01FC
– ǽ: 01FD
– Œ: 0152
– œ: 0153
– st: FB06
– á: 00E1
– é: 00E9
– í: 00ED
– ó: 00F3
– ú: 00FA
– ý: 00FD
– ā: 0101
– ē: 0113
– ī: 012B
– ō: 014D
– ū: 016B
– ȳ: 0233
– ë: 00EB
– ℟: 211F
– ℣: 2123
– m̃: m + 0303 (i.e. type “m” then use 0303 to add the tidle)
– ñ: 00F1
– «: 00AB
– »: 00BB
– § (section): 00A7 (MacOS: Option+6; Windows Alt+0167 or Alt+21)
Although generally sufficient to type Roman numeral using their corresponding Latin letters, the Unicode Ideographic Variation Database does have specific entries for a handful of Roman numerals. All other numbers can be formed using combinations of these numerals. Although usually slight, there are differences XII (letters) and Ⅻ (Unicode Roman numerals), depending on the font you are using. Plus, Unicode does allow for some of the more ancient and rarer numerical forms (e.g., ↈ).
Please see our handout on Roman numerals for more information.
– Ⅰ (one): 2160
– Ⅱ (two): 2161
– Ⅲ (three): 2162
– Ⅳ (four): 2163
– Ⅴ (five): 2164
– Ⅵ (six): 2165
– Ⅶ (seven): 2166
– Ⅷ (eight): 2167
– Ⅸ (nine): 2168
– Ⅹ (ten): 2169
– Ⅺ (eleven): 216A
– Ⅻ (twelve): 216B
– Ⅼ (fifty): 216C
– Ⅽ (one hundred): 216D
– Ⅾ (five hundred): 216E
– M (one thousand): 216F
– ↅ (six): 2185
– ↆ (fifty): 2186
– Ↄ (reversed one hundred): 2183
– ↀ (one thousand): 2180
– ↁ (five thousand): 2181
– ↂ (ten thousand): 2182
– ↇ (fifty thousand): 2187
– ↈ (one hundred thousand): 2188
– ⅰ (one): 2170
– ⅱ (two): 2171
– ⅲ: 2172
– ⅳ (four): 2173
– ⅴ (five): 2174
– ⅵ (six): 2175
– ⅶ (seven): 2176
– ⅷ (eight): 2177
– ⅸ (nine): 2178
– ⅹ (ten): 2179
– ⅺ (eleven): 217A
– ⅻ (twelve): 217B
– ⅼ (fifty): 217C
– ⅽ (one hundred): 217D
– ⅾ (five hundred): 217E
– ⅿ (one thousand): 217F
Sometimes one will come across Roman numerals written with suffixes to indicate ordinal numbers, e.g., Ⅰa. A common example of this is the Ecclesiastical shorthand for the parts of the Summa Thœlogiæ, e.g. Ia-IIæ, which stands for Prima Secundæ. This
corresponds to the suffixes -st, -nd, rd, and -th in English orthography, e.g., 1st. As in English, these suffixes can be written in superscript, e.g., 1st, Ⅰª. In word processors (Microsoft Word, Google Word, etc.), it is usually easiest to use their built-in superscript feature. In HTML, use the superscript tags around the text to be superscripted:
<sup></sup>
For example,
[U+2160]<sup>æ</sup>
will appear on a webpage as Ⅰæ. Unfortunately, only ª and º exist in the Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane, as the feminine and masculine ordinal indicators.
– ª: 00AA
– º: 00BA
The æ ligature in superscript also exists (U+10783), but requires the use of surrogate pairs (D801+DF83).
