Thursday, November 29, 2007

Unicode Greek: Text Critical and Little Used Characters

I had to do a bunch of typing in Greek today that included text critical symbols, and I found myself needing to keep checking a reference chart I had composed for myself. Here are some helps for you:

  • First, check Rodney Decker's NTResources Unicode page and especially note the section on Unicode Input in Word. (It is more easily read if you use the PDF version he provides.)
  • You will especially want to note that entering these characters is most easily done with the "ToggleCharacterCode" switch which involves hitting ALT+X right after entering the character code. For example, in MSWord, to get the Majority Text symbol, use the Cardo font, type 1D510 and then immediately hit ALT+X to get the Fraktur M.
  • This will pretty much only work with the Cardo Unicode font. (Logos has a LibronixApparatusFont that includes the characters, but it is not a Unicode font, and it is not free for distribution. SBLGreek will also be released someday, but in the beta version, even it does not have all the characters.)
  • I regularly use the BabelMap software he mentions.
There are a few characters that Decker does not include in his listing:
  • For the family symbol, use 0192. (You can also use an italic f in TimesNewRoman.)
  • Digamma: 03DD
  • Sampi: 03E1 or 03E0
  • Stigma: 03DB or 03DA
  • Alternate Beta: 03D0
  • Alternate Theta: 03D1
  • Alternate Capital Upsilon: 03D2
  • Koppa: 03D8
  • Aleph = Sinaiticus: 2135 (use this in left-to-right text; in Hebrew text use 05D0)
  • Broken Vertical Line: 00A6
  • Dagger: 2020
  • Dotted Cross: 205C

Hope this helps...

1 comment:

  1. Good suggestion Mark. If/when I get around to updating my Unicode info I'll try to include many of the characters you mention.

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