Desperately seeking insular G!

August 22, 2007 6:38 PM

How do I upgrade unicode?

This is an insular g

It's Unicode is U+1D79. I have Mac OS X and it's not listed in the Unicode characters on the Character Palette. How do I upgrade my unicode database to get an insular g? Thanks.

posted by quercus to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Have you tried using the 'Unicode Hex Input' keyboard layout? Basically, you turn on its checkbox in the International Preference Pane, then you turn on the input menu, and select it from the menu. Then, with that keyboard layout selected, hold down the option key and type '1d79' (you see, hex input). If you're in a program that allows automatic font substitution (like, say, TextEdit), you should see the character if any font contains that code point, even if the character name isn't in OSX's Unicode registry.
posted by boaz at 7:55 PM on August 22, 2007

I'm pretty sure what you're actually looking for is a font which includes that glyph, not a "unicode database," no?

It looks like these gaelic fonts include it, or you could try searching for unicode fonts which include the "Latin Phonetic Extensions" range. (Here and here look like good places to start.) Note that many fonts described as "for windows" will work just fine on OSX; you don't need to limit yourself to just the mac fonts if they don't have what you need.
posted by ook at 8:05 PM on August 22, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks for your help Boaz. That will already help me as a shortcut typing other characters.

The problem is I have no font that has an insular g, even junicode, a comprehensive medievalist font, nor can I find one that does.

So I'm thinking maybe I could install the latest version of the unicode characters, though the technical docs are over my head. Is there an easy way?
posted by quercus at 8:05 PM on August 22, 2007

(sorry, the 'gaelic' link should've been this)
posted by ook at 8:07 PM on August 22, 2007

Response by poster: ook-thanks. I had seen the Celtic scripts but they don't have the exact version I'm looking for-their g's are more handdrawn. I really want the unicode version.

I hadn't seen the fonts on your other links so I'm going to check them out. Thanks for your help.
posted by quercus at 8:10 PM on August 22, 2007

It looks like U+1D79 LATIN SMALL LETTER INSULAR G was added to Unicode in version 4.1.0, so presumably the code tables used by OSX's character palette doohickey are older than that.

You should be able to use that character from a font that includes it even if OSX doesn't know the name, though. The Medieval Unicode Font Initiative has links to some fonts, perhaps one of them has a glyph for U+1D79.
posted by hattifattener at 8:54 PM on August 22, 2007

I'm no medieval font scholar, but Old Standard, available to download here, has what looks to be a pretty crisp, not-handdrawn lowercase insular g at 1D79. (can you see this one: ᵹ ?)

Perhaps I'm being pedantic, but here's how I got me some insular, G.

1) Download and install Old Standard.otf
2) Select View: Code Tables from the dropdown at the top of your Character Palette
3) Select 00001D00 Phonetic Extensions - Latin
4) Scroll down to the 1D70 line.
posted by mumkin at 9:06 PM on August 22, 2007

5) ... and it's right there at the intersection of 1D70 and 9, below the Greek Subscript Small Letter Phi. Double-click to insert it in a document.

Did that work for you?
posted by mumkin at 1:51 PM on August 23, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks Mumkin and hatti and everybody above. The links were great. Niw I have an insular g and life's good. Thanks again.
posted by quercus at 8:11 PM on August 23, 2007