Back علامة القسمة Arabic Обелос Bulgarian Obelos German Óbelo Spanish Jagamismärk Estonian Obélus French Signo de división Galician Obelusz Hungarian Օբելիուս Armenian Obelo Italian
| ÷ † ⁒ ⸓ | |
|---|---|
Modern forms of the obelus | |
| In Unicode | U+00F7 ÷ DIVISION SIGN U+2020 † DAGGER U+2052 ⁒ COMMERCIAL MINUS SIGN U+2E13 ⸓ DOTTED OBELOS |
| Different from | |
| Different from | U+0025 % PERCENT SIGN |
| Related | |
| See also | U+261E ☞ WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX |
An obelus (plural: obeluses or obeli) is a term in codicology and latterly in typography that refers to a historical annotation mark which has resolved to three modern meanings:
- Division sign ÷
- Dagger †
- Commercial minus sign ⁒ (limited geographical area of use)
The word "obelus" comes from ὀβελός (obelós), the Ancient Greek word for a sharpened stick, spit, or pointed pillar.[1] This is the same root as that of the word 'obelisk'.[2]
In mathematics, the first symbol is mainly used in Anglophone countries to represent the mathematical operation of division and is called an obelus.[3] In editing texts, the second symbol, also called a dagger mark † is used to indicate erroneous or dubious content;[4][5] or as a reference mark or footnote indicator.[6] It also has other uses in a variety of specialist contexts.
- ^ R. E. Allen, ed. (1993). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. p. 817.
- ^ R. E. Allen, ed. (1993). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. p. 816.
- ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Division". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
- ^ Wolf, Friedrich August (2014). Prolegomena to Homer, 1795. Translated by Anthony Graton. Princeton University Press. pp. 63, 202–203. ISBN 9781400857692.
- ^ Howatson, M. C. (2013). "Obelos". The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191073014.
- ^ The Chambers Dictionary. Allied Publishers. 1998. p. 1117. ISBN 9788186062258.