litterales

Litterales is a term that appears in some linguistic and philological writings to denote the letters of an alphabet collectively. The form is Latin in origin, derived from littera, meaning “letter.” In classical Latin, the corresponding plural is litterae; litterales is not standard in classical texts, but it has occasionally appeared in medieval and modern Latin writings as a way to refer to an aggregate of writing signs.

In modern usage, litterales may be encountered in discussions that seek to treat the set of letters as a distinct category within an orthography, separate from other symbols such as numerals, punctuation, or diacritics. When used this way, the term aims to emphasize the inventory or system of characters that compose a writing language, rather than any single character. However, litterales is an obscure and rarely attested term, and its meaning can be ambiguous without explicit definition.

Because of its limited attestation, most writers prefer more common terminology such as letters, the alphabet, or graphemes to describe the components of a writing system. Litterales is therefore best understood as a niche or specialized term encountered in certain philological or typographic discussions rather than a standard label in general linguistics.

See also

- Latin alphabet

- Littera

- Litterae

- Grapheme

- Orthography