apostrophe English · revision 840

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/ ''(UK)''; /əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ There are two words, both ultimately from [[grc|ἀποστρέφω|tr=apostréphō|t=to turn away, avert]], [[af|grc|ἀπό|στρέφω|tr1=apó|tr2=stréphō|t1=away|t2=to turn]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ The rhetorical figure (1533) is [[bor|la-lat|apostrophē]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|ἀποστροφή|tr=apostrophḗ|t=a turning away]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ The punctuation mark (1588) is [[bor|frm|apostrophe]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|la-lat|apostrophus]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|ἀπόστροφος|tr=apóstrophos|t=(accent) of turning away, of elision]].^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)^(Cresswell 2021) Its pronunciation was later altered by confusion with the rhetorical word.^(RHWU)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==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).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The orator “turned away” from the audience to address some individual, present or absent, and from this came the verb ''[[apostrophize]]''.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The mark of omission was in Greek the “accent of turning away”, marking where a letter had been dropped.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) In English the word first meant the omission of a letter itself (1611, now obsolete) as well as the sign for it (1588).^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986) 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''.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1530s – rhetorical address to someone absent.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1588 – the sign marking omitted letters.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1611 – omission of a letter (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 18th century – extended to all possessive forms.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # 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.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # 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?”^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[apostrophic]]

+ * [[apostrophise]]

+ * [[apostrophize]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[catastrophe]]

+ * [[strophe]]

+ * [[apocope]]

+ * [[elision]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}