asteriscus

Forms

asteriscus m (genitive asteriscī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀστερίσκος (asterískos, “little star”),^[1][2] a diminutive of ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”).^[1][3] Köbler traces this noun to Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr- (“star”).^[4] Isidore of Seville likewise derived the name from the Greek word for a star.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suetonius (c. 75–c. 150 AD)^[4] is the earliest source: in a fragment on critical signs he says that Aristophanes put the asterisk beside passages where the sense was lacking.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained a term of textual criticism: Jerome and Isidore of Seville describe the asterisk set beside passages that had been left out.^[7][2] Glossaries render it simply as stella, “star”.^[6]

Medieval writers used it above all of the asterisks in Bible manuscripts, from Origen's revision of the Septuagint,^[8][9] and also to mark a gap in a text or the breathing rests in a psalm.^[10] In the Greek Church it named the small metal star set over the paten to keep the veil off the bread,^[11] and Stelten gives it as a small metal cover set over the Host at an outdoor Mass.^[12] English took it in the late 14th century as asterisk.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius describes the asterisk as a critical sign.^[6][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome writes of asterisks in texts.^[7][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the sign and its name.^[7][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as asterisk.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small star; an asterisk, a critical sign set beside passages that are missing or defective.^[7][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A sign marking the breathing rests in a psalm.^[10]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A small metal star or cover set over the paten or the Host.^[11][12]

Related words

• English asterisk

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
12. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson