XPost: alt.language.latin, sci.lang, alt.usage.english
On 5/18/2024 3:32 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:
HenHanna wrote:
TIL (Today i learned) a theory about the origin of the
exclamation Point !!!
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Latin_terms_suffixed_with_-io_(abstract_noun)
Thousands(?) of Latin words end in -io
---------- Many Latin readers sense a hint of
(or traces of) excitement (!!!) in these words ???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclamation_mark
History[edit]
Graphically, the
exclamation mark is represented by variations on the theme of a full
stop point with a vertical line above. One theory of its origin
posits derivation from a Latin exclamation of joy, namely io,
analogous to "hooray"; copyists wrote the Latin word io at >> the end of a sentence, to indicate expression of joy. Over
time, the i moved above the o; that o first became smaller, and (with
time) a dot.[2]
image.png
Really??? This theory about the origin of the exclamation Point (!)
traces it to the Latin word
interjectio ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!??????????
Nice one! There's something cute and joyful about that, as with the derivation (according to many) of "got the wrong end of the stick".
In Latin texts the "io" usually comes at the beginning of a sentence; as
in "io triumphe" or Pliny's "io, io, liber ad te venio".
Ed
Yo! brother Ed... oy!
i always thought that... it's about a hasty, Goofy guy grabbing
the business end (with a blade) and getting a cut in his hand.
>>> There are multiple guesses about the origin, but it's
about 500 years old and seems to refer to holding a walking stick upside
down, meaning that you're going about it in the wrong way. People
confuse it with the “dirty end of the stick” which means getting the
worst of an agreement.
walking stick... reminds me of this great Haiku by the great Poet:
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
1.1.87
Dangerous pavements.
But I face the ice this year
With my father’s stick.
(as it appears in Seeing Things (Faber and Faber, 1991)
Dangerous pavements . . .
But this year I face the ice
With my father’s stick!
The Strand
The dotted line my father’s ash plant made
On Sandymount Strand
Is something else the tide won’t wash away.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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