TIL I have been mispronouncing uncial (ŭn′shəl) as “unical” for my entire lifetime.

Have I ever said this word out loud? Maybe not. I learned it from a book of calligraphy when I was 11 years old and I’ve used the fonts in all kinds of designs since the late 1980s. It is possible I have never heard it said aloud.

You can imagine my surprise this morning when I was watching a PredictionX: Omens, Oracles & Prophecies course video about the Gospel of the Lots of Mary, a 5th century oracle book handwritten on sheepskin parchment in uncial. Unshull?? What? Is that some fancy academic pronunciation?

I am so certain in my knowledge that this word is spelled and pronounced unical, that I wondered if I have slipped into a different timeline. Or is this a Mandela Effect? Google says no.

UNCIAL how it’s spelled and how its said. It’s from Latin unciales litterae (uncial letters) derived from uncia meaning “a twelfth part, ounce, inch” and uncus meaning “curve” or “hook” referencing the rounded nature of the letterforms.

The OED reports that unical (unicus + ~al) is an obsolete adjective from the 1600s that meant “singular.” It’s not not a word, but it’s not a lettering style, either.

So I have been wrong for almost 50 years. As penance, I have practiced the uncial letters that I learned in 1977.