# What is the meaning of moved letters on LaTeX logo?

I read many years ago about the meaning of TeX, coming from Greek letters, etc... Also I found many posts here related to the right way to write TeX, LaTeX and so on when it is not possible to use the macro \LaTeX.

But my question is: why are the letters a and e moved on the logo?

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A logo is an artistic device, the "why" can only ever be "because the designer liked it that way". – David Carlisle Jan 24 '13 at 20:52
relevant quote from the TeXbook: 'The E is out of kilter ... [which is a] reminder that TeX is about typesetting, and it distinguishes TeX from other system names' – cmhughes Jan 24 '13 at 20:55
I was supposing that it was to show the capability of puting things exactly where we wish to. – Sigur Jan 24 '13 at 20:55
@cmhughes, this is the reason to alternate upper cases and lower cases, I guess. – Sigur Jan 24 '13 at 20:56
For TeX there is an addition specific reason also noted in the TeXBook immediately after the quote @cmhughes just gave: In fact, TEX (pronounced tecks) is the admirable Text EXecutive processor developed by Honeywell Information Systems. Since these two system names are pronounced quite differently, they should also be spelled differently. – David Carlisle Jan 24 '13 at 21:06

As you mentioned: 'TeX' comes from Greek τέχνη and the capital τ (tau), ε (epsilon) and χ (chi) are identical to a Latin capitals T, E and X respectively).

Artistically, writing the epsilon as a 'lowered' capital makes sense not only because the capitals are identical. It also shows (a tiny bit of) the capability of TeX: It shows that TeX can do proper kerning, with subscripts as well.

Maybe it's best to let Donald Knuth explain:

[...] it’s important to notice another thing about TeX’s name: The ‘E’ is out of kilter. This displaced ‘E’ is a reminder that TeX is about typesetting, and it distinguishes TeX from other system names. In fact, TEX (pronounced tecks) is the admirable Text EXecutive processor developed by Honeywell Information Systems. Since these two system names are pronounced quite differently, they should also be spelled differently. The correct way to refer to TeX in a computer file, or when using some other medium that doesn’t allow lowering of the ‘E’, is to type ‘TeX’. Then there will be no confusion with similar names, and people will be primed to pronounce everything properly.

(Source: The TeXbook)

As for the La bit: Placing the 'A' underneath the 'L' would look a bit strange:

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It would be nice if you could explain what the La means. I suspect it's short for Lamport but I don't have a reference. – Marc van Dongen Jun 7 '13 at 10:48
@MarcvanDongen -- see david carlisle's comment to this answer to a related (closed) question. – barbara beeton Jun 7 '13 at 12:36
@barbarabeeton Thanks. This explains why I never noticed any reference to the origins of the La in LaTeX. – Marc van Dongen Jun 7 '13 at 14:19