apostrophus

Forms

apostrophus f (genitive apostrophī); second declension^[1] Also apostrophos, with the Greek ending.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “turned away”),^[2][3][1] from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”),^[1][4] made of ἀπό (apó, “off, away from”) and στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).^[4] In Greek it was an adjective used with the word for “accent”, the sign of “turning away”;^[4] the Latin noun is feminine.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The grammarian Diomedes (writing c. 370–380 AD) is the first to use it, for the sign that marks a dropped vowel.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It remained a term of the grammarians.^[2] Aldhelm counts it among the ten marks of prosody and calls it the sign of a vowel rubbed out.^[6] Medieval writers also used it for a mark of separation, for an address to someone (properly apostrophē), and, in the 11th century, for a crafty person.^[6][5] Through French it gave English apostrophe (1580s),^[4] and it is the source of Italian apostrofo.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 370–380 AD – The grammarian Diomedes names the sign.^[2][3][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm lists it among the marks of prosody.^[6][5]
• 1030 – A set of annals uses it for a crafty person.^[5]
• 1580s – English borrows it, through French, as apostrophe.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, grammar) An apostrophe, the sign marking an omitted vowel.^[2][3][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) A mark of separation between words.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) An address to someone, an apostrophe in the rhetorical sense.^[6][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A crafty person.^[6][5]

Related words

• English apostrophe

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier