Caslon Antique...

In the early 19th century, what we now call sans-serif typefaces were introduced. They were considered by some to be crude and ugly, compared to traditional serif faces, and so were labeled "gothic." This meaning of gothic is no longer current, of course, but it survives (if memories from my college art history class are correct) in the term "gothic architecture"--so called by people in the Renaissance who disliked the older style. Neither has anything in particular to do with the Goths, except that they were considered barbaric by the "civilized" Romans whose empire they invaded.

Actually, I was under the impression that "Grotesk" was the label given to the first sans-serif typefaces, the category that includes faces like Akzidenz Grotesk and Helvetica. Grotesks were basically just Egyptian faces with the serifs lobbed off, and people thought this looked odd (grotesque).

Gothic faces, on the other hand, derive their appelation from Gothic hand script, which first developed in German (Gothic) Europe. Gothic script diverged from other rounded letterforms, making the sides of all letters (even round letters) straight. Modern Gothic sans serif fonts keep much of the structure of the Gothic hand script, including straight-sided letters. DIN is a good example of a Gothic sans.

Because many sans are Gothic, the term has sometimes been misunderstood to designate all sans typefaces, but this is incorrect.

This is how I understand it. I could be wrong.

Paul

Paul,

Do you have an example of the 'DIN' font that you are referring to?

So, all sans are grotesk, but not all sans are gothic? Could you compare some different sans to give me an idea of what you mean?

Tom

Tom,

So, all sans are grotesk, but not all sans are gothic?

Rather, the first sans were grotesk, but now it's just one category of sans. There are grotesks, gothics, humanists, geometrics, and other categorizations of sans.

Some grotesks:




Gothic sans:




Geometric Sans:




Humanist Sans:



Paul

I think the "gothic" tag was also commonly given in the U.S. to what were called "grotesk," "grotesque," or "antique" in Europe. Hence: Franklin Gothic, News Gothic, Trade Gothic, Tourist Gothic, Avant Garde Gothic, etc. Not sure why this was, though.

Mark, I've been told that many American type designers misunderstood what "gothic" meant, and thought it referred to all sans; hence all those gothic sans that aren't actually gothic.

Paul

There's an even older meaning for "Gothic."

Synopsis:

The word 'Gothic' in typographic terms has evolved to have a different meaning from architectural terms. (This is what led to my initial confusion.)

Furthermore, the statement 'gothic typeface = sans-serif typeface' is not accurate. Gothic is one type of sans - sans that are more architectonic in form and have a more vertical thrust(more condensed feel) than grotesk. The word gothic fell to these letterforms because they had their origin in Gothic (German) Europe.

Is that about right? Thanks.
Tom

Goth v. Gothic

Goth rocker Marilyn Manson

'Gothic' was used as early as 1863 by the Miller & Richard foundry (British) to describe sanserif types. Why the American founders adopted 'gothic' over the more dominant 'grotesque' is not too clear. You can find out more about this topic in Appendix II of James Mosley's book The Nymph and The Grot.