How did italicized text come to mean emphasis?

Question

What’s the history on this? When did people start italicizing writing?

In: Other

Answer 1

italics started because in 1500ish Francesco Griffo wanted to fit more words on smaller pages to make pocket editions of books, and slightly slanted letters let you fit more letters per line without making them smaller.

it looks different than normal text, and anything unusual in a block of text draws the eye. things that draw the eye are emphasized. and since italics became a standard but different font, it got used for emphasis