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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
EARLY TRACES OF THE GREEK QUESTION MARK
Contributor:
Nünlist, René
imprint:
Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2023
Published in:The Classical Quarterly
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1017/s0009838823000277
ISSN:
1471-6844;
0009-8388
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>According to the standard view on the issue, the habit of marking questions with a particular typographical sign in Greek and Latin script does not arise prior to the eighth or ninth century. This period is generally credited with the ‘invention’ of the question mark (excepting Syriac evidence, which points to the fifth and sixth centuries). The purpose of the present article is to correct this view. It argues that the first indication for the use of a typographical sign that marks questions can actually be detected no later than during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (<jats:sc>a.d.</jats:sc> 117–38), that is, more than half a millennium before the traditional date of the invention. The chief witness is Nicanor of Alexandria, who does not seem to have used question marks himself, but criticizes the misappropriation of another punctuation mark to that purpose. He thus indirectly testifies to the existence of question marks. Comparable traces can also be found later in the exegetical works of some Christian commentators.</jats:p>