<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article does not cite any sources . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article does not cite any sources . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In a written or published work, an initial or drop cap is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text . The word is derived from the Latin initialis, which means standing at the beginning . An initial is often several lines in height and in older books or manuscripts, sometimes ornately decorated . </P> <P> In illuminated manuscripts, initials with images inside them, such as those illustrated here, are known as historiated initials . They were an invention of the Insular art of the British Isles in the eighth century . Initials containing, typically, plant - form spirals with small figures of animals or humans that do not represent a specific person or scene are known as "inhabited" initials . Certain important initials, such as the Beatus initial or "B" of Beatus vir...at the opening of Psalm 1 at the start of a vulgate Latin psalter, could occupy a whole page of a manuscript . </P>

What is the big letter at the beginning of a paragraph called