“ Graphic designers refer to the Italic and Roman forms as single-decker a and double decker a
respectively. In some of these, the serif that began the right leg stroke developed into an arc, resulting in the printed form, while in others it was dropped, resulting in the modern handwritten form.
In Greek handwriting, it was common to join the left leg and horizontal stroke
into a single loop, as demonstrated by the uncial version shown. These variants,
the Italic and Roman forms, were derived from the Caroline Script version.
15th-century Italy saw the formation of the two main variants that are known today.
By the ninth century, the Caroline script, which was very similar to the present-day form, was the principal
form used in book-making, before the advent of the printing
press. There was also a cursive style used for everyday or utilitarian writing, which was done on more perishable surfaces.
But an also occurs though less frequently now than formerly.
A similar fronting of this sound took place in the Ionic-Attic dialects of Greek, where
sounds derive from the a-sound and represented in other dialects by a are represented by η.
Sound 3 represents a stage in the development
of a on its way from 1 to 4 which was arrested at this point when the sound was followed by
r. ”