interpunction
May. 5th, 2023 08:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordinterpunction (in-tuhr-PUNGK-shuhn) - n., a punctuation mark; the insertion of punctuation marks in a text.
Fun fact: an older synonym for punctuation marks is points. This is a literal translation of the Latin term, punctum, point/dot. This word is direct from the Latin interpunctio, from interpunctus, past participle of interpungere, to punctuate, from inter-, within + pungere, to point. This was kind of a big deal, as originally Latin was written without any punctuation, not even periods, and the invention of punctuation to guide your way through the sentences was a massive advance in readability -- but someone had to go through all those old texts and add these new-fangled marks. IOW, they had to interpunct them.
---L.
Fun fact: an older synonym for punctuation marks is points. This is a literal translation of the Latin term, punctum, point/dot. This word is direct from the Latin interpunctio, from interpunctus, past participle of interpungere, to punctuate, from inter-, within + pungere, to point. This was kind of a big deal, as originally Latin was written without any punctuation, not even periods, and the invention of punctuation to guide your way through the sentences was a massive advance in readability -- but someone had to go through all those old texts and add these new-fangled marks. IOW, they had to interpunct them.
---L.
