Johnson Covnty Covrthovse? Why the Vs?

Yesterday Martina and I visited Cleburne, and while we were there on the square, Martina looked up at the words chiseled on the courthouse and asked, "Why is there a V instead of a U in 'County?'" This was indeed a very good question, and though we both knew that it had something to do with Latin, neither of us knew exactly why V would be chosen over U in the modern era. So I sought digital counsel.

Our friends at dictionary.com, in their explanation of the subject, state that the Latin alphabet only had 23 letters, and U wasn't one of them. The U sound, of course, did exist, but the letter V represented both the U and V sounds. The good ol' letter U, as we know it, was not regularly employed until the 1600s, when printers started using standardized letter shapes. 

According to an article on pampamuseum.org, folks used a V instead of a U on Neoclassical buildings to give those noble edifices a more Roman feel. So, when I think about it, Johnson County was just following suit. And though the Johnson County Courthouse was built in the Texas Renaissance style, using that V in the word "County" would not have been an arbitrary decision because the use of the letter V as a vowel would have been the standard convention for the majority of the Renaissance. But then, my opinion and two bits won't buy you a pecan praline. 

Well, either way, I'm going to call this case closed. I hope y'all have a pleasant Sunday!