Ditto mark
Template:Short description Template:Infobox symbol The ditto mark is a shorthand sign, used mostly in hand-written text, indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.[1][2]
The mark is made using "a pair of apostrophes";[1] "a pair of marks Template:Serif used underneath a word";[3] the symbol Template:Serif (quotation mark);[2][4] or the symbol Template:Serif (right double quotation mark).[5]
In the following example, the second line reads "Blue pens, box of twenty".
Black pens, box of twenty ... $2.10 Blue " " " " ... $2.35
History
Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the Neo-Assyrian period (934–608 BCE) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text.[6]
The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language,[7] where it is the past participle of the verb Script error: No such module "Lang". (to say), with the meaning of "said", as in the locution "the said story". The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625.[7]
In English, the abbreviation "do.", usually italicised, has sometimes been used instead of ditto marks - see example below, and also in a table in a U.S. Patent.[8]
Other languages
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Other languages may use equivalent symbols. For example, in Norwegian and Swedish handwriting, a version using horizontal lines to indicate the span of the cell in a table where an entry repeats is sometimes seen (––〃––).[9] In French, it is called a Script error: No such module "Lang"., but the actual symbol used may vary: Template:Char is used in Quebec, while in France Template:Char is preferred.[10] For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there is the specific Unicode character Template:Unichar in the range CJK Symbols and Punctuation. This facilitates the setting of both marks on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text.
In China the corresponding historical mark was two horizontal lines Template:Char (Unicode Template:Unichar), which is also the ancient ideograph of "two", similar to the modern ideograph Template:Char. It is found in bronze script from the Zhou dynasty, as in the example at right (c. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".). In seal script form this became Template:Char, and is now written as Template:Char; see iteration mark.
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In the Maya script, a pair of small dots may appear above or in front of a glyph to indicate that it should be read twice. This duplication diacritic functions as a phonetic doubling device, typically applied to syllabic signs. For example, the Maya word kakaw ("cacao") can be written with a ka sign marked by two small prefixed dots, signaling that it be read as ka-ka, followed by wa.[11][12]
See also
References
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". but the Cambridge Dictionary of Business English on the same page uses the CJK ditto mark Template:Char
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Template:British-Museum-db and File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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