this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2024
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Rough Roman Memes

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A place to meme about the glorious ROMAN EMPIRE (and Roman Republic, and Roman Kingdom)! Byzantines tolerated! The HRE is not.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Edit - Answered! - This looks funny but I don't know why. Someone please explain.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

'UwU' is a common emoji associated with furries.

U and W ('Double-U') are both later innovations of the alphabet which did not exist in the period we most associate with Rome. Rome, instead, had only the 'V' to represent all three sounds (as well as J and I having the same relationship) - hence why you sometimes see Roman Latin typed out with no U's, despite the ubiquity of the sound, such as SENATVS for 'Senatus' (Senate) or IVPITER for Jupiter.

Here, then, UwU is represented by VvvV

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Thank you very much. And yes, that is funny.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The Roman alphabet had neither the letter U nor the letter W. The planet Jupiter for example was spelled IVPITER by the Romans. Both of these letters evolved later from the letter V. U is a basically an oddly shaped V in its origin, and W, despite its English name, is clearly a double V. Hence, Roman UwU is spelled VvvV.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Wasn't it that V is easier to carve or write than I with the tools at the time?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago