The UDHR in Historic Fonts: Article 1 in Fraktur, Gaelic and Nastaliq
Three languages have a traditional letter style that changes how their text is spelled or set: German in Fraktur, Irish in Gaelic type and Urdu in Nastaliq. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is shown in each below, with links to the complete texts.
Three styles, one Unicode text each
None of the three styles is a separate alphabet. Fraktur and Gaelic type are forms of the Latin script, Nastaliq a form of the Arabic script, and Unicode encodes them as ordinary Latin or Arabic letters. What makes each a style of its own is a set of spelling habits and letter shapes, and BCP 47 has a script subtag for each: Latf for Fraktur, Latg for Gaelic and Aran for Nastaliq.3
For German and Irish, the old style also changes the spelling. A Fraktur text uses the long ſ inside words; a Gaelic-type text writes a dotted consonant where modern Irish adds an h. Urdu spelling stays the same in Nastaliq and in the upright Naskh style; only the shapes and the sloping line of each word change.2
Article 1 in Fraktur, Gaelic type and Nastaliq
Each text is tagged with its script variant. A browser with a matching font shows the traditional shapes; otherwise the same letters appear in the default face.
Alle Menſchen ſind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie ſind mit Vernunft und Gewiſſen begabt und ſollen einander im Geiſte der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.
Long ſ inside words, round s at the end of a word or word part. Full German text in Fraktur spelling.
Saoláitear na daoine uile saor agus coṁionann ina ndínit agus ina gcearta. Tá bauiḋ an réasúin agus an ċoinsiasa acu agus dlíd iad féin d’iompar de ṁeon ḃrṫreaċais i leiṫ a ċéile.
Lenition written with a dot: ċ, ṁ, ḃ, ṫ for ch, mh, bh, th. Full Irish text in Gaelic-type spelling.
تمام انسان آزادی اور حقوق و عزت کے اعتبار سے برابر پیدا ہوئے ہیں۔ انہیں ضمیر اور عقل و دیعت ہوئی ہے۔ اس لئے انہیں ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ بھائی چارے کا سلوک کرنا چاہیء۔
Words slope down toward the baseline from right to left. Full Urdu text.
How the three historic styles compare
| Style | Language | Period of everyday print | What the style changes | Language tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fraktur | German | Early 16th century to 1941 | Long ſ inside words, round s at word ends; ß as a ligature built on ſ | de-Latf |
| Gaelic type (cló Gaelach) | Irish | 1571 to the mid-20th century | Dot above for lenition (ḃ ċ ḋ ḟ ġ ṁ ṗ ṡ ṫ), Tironian et ⁊, insular letter shapes | ga-Latg |
| Nastaliq | Urdu, Persian | From the 14th century; the standard style for Urdu | Sloping, hanging word shapes; spelling unchanged | ur-Aran |
Periods follow the Wikipedia articles named in the sources: Fraktur was banned from official use on 3 January 1941; Gaelic type stayed in normal use in Ireland until the mid-20th century.
Where each style came from
Fraktur goes back to the types cut for Emperor Maximilian I in the early 16th century and stayed the normal German print face until the 1941 ban.2 Gaelic type grew out of the insular hand of Irish manuscripts; its first printing type dates from 1571.2 Nastaliq developed in 14th-century Iran from the Naskh hand; the Mughal court took it to the Indian subcontinent, where it became the usual script for Urdu.2
Questions about historic fonts
Can Fraktur or Gaelic type be written in plain Unicode?
Yes. Both are Latin letters; the long ſ and the dotted consonants ḃ, ċ, ṁ and the rest are standard Unicode characters, and a font supplies the historic shapes.
What is the difference between Nastaliq and Naskh?
Naskh is the upright style used in most Arabic print; Nastaliq slopes each word down toward the baseline. Urdu is traditionally printed in Nastaliq, with the same letters and spelling.
Are “Irish uncial” fonts real uncials?
Mostly not. They are Gaelic or insular letter shapes; uncial in the strict sense is an early medieval majuscule book hand.
- 1OHCHR translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: German (ger.pdf) and Urdu (urd.pdf); Irish as transcribed in the Unicode UDHR collection (gle). Checked 28 October 2026. ↑
- 2Wikipedia, “Fraktur”, “Long s”, “Gaelic type” and “Nastaliq”, consulted 28 October 2026. ↑
- 3IANA Language Subtag Registry and ISO 15924: script subtags Latf (Latin, Fraktur variant), Latg (Latin, Gaelic variant) and Aran (Arabic, Nastaliq variant). ↑