There manicula It is a hand -shaped sign – maniculain Latin, means just handsmall hand – that indicates with the index: We are used to seeing it in typographical prints, indications of places, graphic and design signs, and for decades it has been a distinctive symbol of the cursor on Mac computers, only recently eliminated. Despite being perfectly integrated in our daily livesthe history of manicula begins in Middle Ageswhen on the manuscripts a hand designed, often also with an attacked arm, to pay attention to specific text passages.
Because just a little hand
The professor William H. Sherman dedicated the essay “Toward in History of the ManiculAnd” precisely to the history of this symbol, and argues that in ancient times the hand that indicates “was chosen precisely because it is closely connected to a recall with the human gesticular. The goal was precisely to attract attention: what better than an index could do it?
“The second finger indicates the index and greeting, as if it were a sign, because with it we greet, show and teach all things.”
In fact, in fact, Bartholomaeus Anglicus writes in the De ownedibus rerum (1535), encyclopedia on natural sciences where meanings and properties of the human body are investigated.
There manicula in medieval manuscripts
There manicula older we are aware of today, according to the sources available, seems to be the one found in Daday bookdated 1086, a register of land ownership between England and Wales, as reported by an article on Atlas Obscura which, in turn, refers to the text “Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctual, Symbols, and Other” by Keith Houston.
In the Middle Agesmanicules were then designed with different forms, often to free interpretation of those who deal with them: in some testimonies, collected thanks on the sector site I love typographywe see some more stylizedothers more decoratedsomeone colorful and still others only with the margin. The functionality was therefore important, but also theharmony and consistency in the text.
There manicula it was of common use, as we can observe in Cambini notebooksdated around 1440, commercial documents where we speak of the circulation of capital in the Mediterranean and Atlantic area.
One is visible in the figure manicula stylized: here, as elsewhere, we note that the index is much longer than it actually is, probably for bring maximum attention where necessary.
In this period, moreover, the manicula he also had other names, including “Fist of the Bishop”, “hand that indicates”or simply “finger”: the different ways of calling it allow us to understand how its use adapted to different cultural contextsshowing that it was, in fact, of common use.
The transformation of the manicula with the advent of the press
The first manicula printed in Italy seems to be present in “Breviarium Totius Juris Canons” completed by Paolo Fiorentino and printed in Milan in 1479. We can observe here the first page of the volume, where you can see the well maniculaas well as the portrait of the author, a rather unique element, since considering the first case where the author himself inserts the own image within a printed text.
There manicula It is then inserted in the characters of the typographic press And, gradually, its shape becomes more and more standard, to be inserted in the text or margin together with all the other characters.
The manicula today, a design symbol
Today, the hand indicated, is replaced in a more practical and immediate way by highlighters, post-its and other symbols that we affix on the page, without precise standards. Its use, however,, It remains as a symbol with a slightly vintage flavor which indicates writings, objects, directions to be taken, etc. For example, during the 1900s, different characters of characters both in Europe and in America they included the manicula among the typographic charactersthus allowing its diffusion in images and catalogs.
Even the minions, famous illustrators and designers, well known for dealing with the whole graphic apparatus of Harry Potter, have chosen one manicula To indicate where their shop is located in London.
And again, the Apple for decades has chosen the Mac computers as a cursor symbol of a little handin this case cheek, similar to the mouse glove and now eliminated, just to characterize the user’s experience and make it more significant.
