Gymnasium (ancient Greece) the Greek noun γυμνάσιον ("gymnasion"), "gymnastic school", in pl. "bodily exercises" and generally "school" which in turn is derived from the common Greek adjective ("gymnos") meaning "naked", by way of the related verb γυμνάζω ("gymnazo"), whose meaning is "to train naked", "train in gymnastic exercise", generally "to train, to exercise". The verb had this meaning because one undressed for exercise. Historically, the gymnasium was used for exercise, communal bathing, and scholarly and philosophical pursuits. The English noun "gymnast", first recorded in 1594, is formed from the Greek γυμναστής ("gymnastēs"), but in Greek this word means "trainer" not "gymnast". The "palaistra"
History of the Greek alphabet Often, in medieval manuscripts, old uncial letter forms were mixed in with the normal minuscule letters for writing titles or for emphasizing the initial letter of a word or sentence. Like in Latin, this became the root of the modern innovation of letter case, the systematic distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters in orthography. The uppercase letters of modern orthography are derived from the uncial script, while the lowercase letters are derived from minuscules. The invention of printing saw the codification of a more fixed set of letter structures. Greek handwriting made extensive use of ligatures with letters written differently