Does anyone else think the question mark is the most beautiful of all punctuation marks?
Well, the very first question mark may have looked more like a colon. Discovered in Syriac manuscripts of the Bible from the fifth century, the double dot symbol is placed above a word near the beginning of a sentence to indicate to the reader that it is a question. It may not be as aesthetically appealing as today’s symbol, but it does has a superior name: “zawga elaya.”
(Via Languagehat via Maud Newton)
One response
I do think it’s beautiful, too. But I’d have to say my favorite punctuation mark is the semi-colon, both for its beauty and its anticipatory nature. Whenever I see one I get excited — it’s like a little switch in my brain that says “just wait, there’s so much more to come”.
Click here to subscribe today and leave your comment.