Rubric (nonfiction)

Rubric from Blackletter bible (1497) printed in Strasbourg by Johann Grüninger. The colored chapter initials were handwritten after printing.

A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis.

The word rubric derives from the Latin rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in Medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or earlier.

In these, red letters were used to highlight:

• Initial capitals, particularly of psalms
• Section headings and names of religious significance -- a practice known as rubrication, which was a separate stage in the production of a manuscript.

Rubric can also mean the red ink or paint used to make rubrics, or the pigment used to make it.

Although red was most often used, other colours came into use from the late Middle Ages onwards, and the word rubric was used for these also.

Various figurative senses of the word have been extended from its original sense.

Usually these senses are used within the set phrase "under [whatever] rubric," for example, "under this rubric, [X is true]," or "[X was done] under the rubric of Y."

In the News

• 

  Discovery of "Red Charter" implicates The Rubrics in blood sacrifice of H. P. Lovecraft.

Fiction cross-reference

• Rubrics
• Rubricus

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Rubric @ Wikipedia
• Rubrication @ Wikipedia