[Tex/LaTex] Typesetting an old Latin ligature with pdftex

fontsligatures

I am using pdftex (MiKTeX) to typeset snippets of old texts. I am stuck on how to get the ligature that looks like qz in old latin (1526) (but could be some form of que). For example the third word below (and twice more on the last line)

old latin text from 1526

I am using \fontfamily{jkpvos} from kpfonts to get the long s and st ligatures, but have no clue about the other. (The text is from Cursus quatuor mathematicarum artium liberalium by Pedro Ciruelo, 1526.)

Best Answer

The Junicode medieval font has this character mapped as E8BF. It seems to have an automatic ligature that provides it, but it doesn't really work that I could tell.

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures=TeX}
\setmainfont[Numbers=OldStyle]{Junicode}
\usepackage{xspace}

\newcommand\qz{\char"E8BF\xspace}

\begin{document}
\noindent veritas \& ratio vtriſ\qz. Numeri imparis tres ſunt ſpecies immediate quæ sunt, primus,
ſecundus,\& ad alterum primus. Numerus impar primus eſt qui ſola vnitate parte
aliquota metiri poteſt, vt.3.5.7. idem\qz incompoſitus nominatur,\& ratio vtriuſ\qz de\char"2E17 
\end{document}

which produces:

qz with junicode

Note: As Thérèse said, using OTF fonts requires fontspec, hence using XeTeX or LuaTeX (in my case, I built this example with lualatex). That said, for medieval needs, you'll find more resources with OTF fonts.

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