Origins of a few punctuation marks.


	Origins of a few punctuation marks.

coconutshell

7-10-2007 1:39 AM

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tags:

punctuation, language, grammar, origin

coconutshell says:

Interesting....

3 Comments |

Add a Comment

7-10-2007 7:13 PM

skwirlinator

Ah, Knowledge...

7-10-2007 10:37 PM

adamc

Look at that sentence...

"I will settle as I doe often in woorke use, a paire of paralleles, or Gmowe [i.e., twin] lines of one length, thus : , bicause noe 2 thynges, can be more equalle."

Bizarre.

7-10-2007 10:48 PM

grammydjb1

Always interesting to find how things began!!

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/7f962c74-6eba-41f5-9f6d-6af3eac6c6e8/56BD878E-6A62-4450-95D2-E5D6F0CB39B8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/" href="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.neatorama.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><H2>Question Mark</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.neatorama.com/img/E38F437C-CB22-48B5-8519-EAE5E37F2F00" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">When early scholars wrote in <A href="#" class="kLink"  id="KonaLink0"><FONT color="#32527a"><SPAN class="kLink">Latin</SPAN></FONT></A>, they would place the word <EM>questio</EM> </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">at the end of a sentence to indicate a query. To conserve valuable space, writing it was soon shortened to <SPAN class="underline"><EM>qo</EM></SPAN>,</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">they squashed the letters into a symbol: a lowercased <SPAN class="underline"><EM>q</EM></SPAN> on top of an <EM>o</EM>. Over time the <EM>o</EM> shrank to a dot and the <EM>q </EM> to a squiggle</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><H2>Exclamation Point</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.neatorama.com/img/3D5C3830-57B8-4563-9A4E-2FB0B8E7D86C" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">The mark comes from the Latin word<EM> io</EM>, meaning "exclamation of joy." Written vertically, with the <EM>i</EM> above the <EM>o</EM></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><H2>Equal Sign</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.neatorama.com/img/2C9AB256-E3BC-4C78-99CE-870B0132113C" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">English mathematician Robert Recorde in 1557,</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">"I will settle as I doe often in woorke use, a paire of paralleles, or Gmowe [i.e., twin] lines of one length, thus : <IMG width="24" height="7" src="http://neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007-07/equal-sign-recorde.jpg" />, bicause noe 2 thynges, can be more equalle."</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><H2>Octothorp</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">this ancient sign for numbering derives from <EM>thorpe</EM></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">The symbol was originally used in mapmaking, representing a village surrounded by eight fields, so it was named the <EM>octothorp</EM>.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><H2>Ampersand</H2></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"><EM>et</EM>, Latin for "and."</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">"and, per se, and"</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"> meaning "&, which means ‘and.’"</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/">schoolchildren learned this symbol as the 27th letter </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/56BD878E-6A62-4450-95D2-E5D6F0CB39B8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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