Obelus

For the genus of snails, see Obelus (gastropod).

Three variants of obelus glyphs
÷ † ⁒ ⸓
Modern forms of the obelus
In UnicodeU+00F7 ÷ DIVISION SIGN
U+2020 † DAGGER
U+2052 ⁒ COMMERCIAL MINUS SIGN
U+2E13 ⸓ DOTTED OBELOS
Different from
Different fromU+0025 % PERCENT SIGN
Related
See alsoU+261E ☞ WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX
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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:

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.

  1. ^ R. E. Allen, ed. (1993). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. p. 817.
  2. ^ R. E. Allen, ed. (1993). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. p. 816.
  3. ^ Weisstein, Eric W. "Division". mathworld.wolfram.com. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  4. ^ Wolf, Friedrich August (2014). Prolegomena to Homer, 1795. Translated by Anthony Graton. Princeton University Press. pp. 63, 202–203. ISBN 9781400857692.
  5. ^ Howatson, M. C. (2013). "Obelos". The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191073014.
  6. ^ The Chambers Dictionary. Allied Publishers. 1998. p. 1117. ISBN 9788186062258.