The history of punctuation

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When did punctuation begin to be used in English language? Period must have been the first form to come. Maybe then commas. Can some body throw light on the history of punctuation?ThanksRasta

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]When did punctuation begin to be used in English language? Period must have been the first form to come. Maybe then commas. Can some body throw light on the history of punctuation?[/nq]
I've looked before, and it's not easy to find. I finally bought a big book on the subject, Pause and Effect , and I've leafed through it a few times, but it looks almost as if I'd have to learn the entire history of medieval manuscript making (which was mostly in Latin) to make sense of what it shows there.
You should notice that your question assumes that the English people invented periods, commas, etc. That's not the case.

I'll pass on one little thing I learned: "period" and "comma" used to mean, not the little marks we know of, but the grammatical forms, the entire phrases, clauses, or sentences, that were set off by various marks. Eventually the marks themselves took on the names.

It's as if this symbol, "?", was not called "a question mark" but a "question."
I'd like the excuse to tackle that book again. Perhaps you have a specific question I could aim for? What would you like to know?

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]When did punctuation begin to be used in English language? ... Can some body throw light on the history of punctuation?[/nq]
[nq:1]I've looked before, and it's not easy to find. I finally bought a big book on the subject, Pause ... the entire history of medieval manuscript making (which was mostly in Latin) to make sense of what it shows there.[/nq]
This is better (and easier to understand):
Bischoff, Bernhard. 1990. Latin palaeography: antiquity and the middle ages. Translated from German by Daíbhí Ó Cróinín & David Ganz. Cambridge University Press & The Medieval Academy of Ireland.

I was looking for the origin of the question mark, and found that book very illuminating.

jouni maho

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I'll pass on one little thing I learned: "period" and "comma" used to mean, not the little marks we know ... entire phrases, clauses, or sentences, that were set off by various marks. Eventually the marks themselves took on the names.[/nq]
That's still one meaning of "period". "Quotes" and "parentheses" can mean either the punctuation marks or the stuff inside them.

David

The history of punctuation

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