apostrophe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/ (UK); /əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

There are two words, both ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away, avert”), from Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “away”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

The rhetorical figure (1533) is borrowed from Late Latin apostrophē,^[2][6] from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ, “a turning away”).^[2][5][6][7]

The punctuation mark (1588) is borrowed from Middle French apostrophe,^[3][4][6] from Late Latin apostrophus,^[2][3][4][6] from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “(accent) of turning away, of elision”).^[3][4][6][8] Its pronunciation was later altered by confusion with the rhetorical word.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A figure of speech in which a speaker or writer breaks off to address some person or thing, present or absent (1533).^[9][5][4]

Semantic evolution

The orator “turned away” from the audience to address some individual, present or absent, and from this came the verb apostrophize.^[4][7] The mark of omission was in Greek the “accent of turning away”, marking where a letter had been dropped.^[4][8] In English the word first meant the omission of a letter itself (1611, now obsolete) as well as the sign for it (1588).^[9][7] In the possessive ending the apostrophe originally showed the loss of the e of -es, and by the 18th century it was extended to all possessives, whether or not they had ever had an e.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1530s – rhetorical address to someone absent.^[4][9][5]
• 1588 – the sign marking omitted letters.^[9]
• 1611 – omission of a letter (obsolete).^[9]
• 18th century – extended to all possessive forms.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The superscript sign (’ or ') used to mark the omission of letters or figures, the possessive case, and sometimes the plurals of letters, figures and abbreviations.
2. A digression in a speech or poem addressing an absent or imaginary person or a personified idea, as in “O Death, where is thy sting?”

Word family

• apostrophic
• apostrophise
• apostrophize

Related words

• catastrophe
• strophe
• apocope
• elision

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press