Printers and Punctuation 

  

"Prefer geniality to grammar." 

-The King's English - F. G. Fowler (1871 - 1918)

Printers invented most punctuation. In the time of the scribes, writing was a chaotic practice with few well established rules. The Greeks practiced a handwriting style called "boustrophedon" which means "as the ox ploughs the field." They wrote the first line left to right and the second line was a mirror image going right to left. Every other line started from the opposite side of the page, just like plowing a field.

Dots or slashes were used to separate words and sentences in early writing. Until the 1700's, punctuation followed spoken delivery. Most writing was intended to be read aloud and marks were made to indicate places where to take a breath.

Writing evolved and styles were driven by the technology of the writing instrument. Gothic hand lettering, for example, was shaped by the blunt edged pen used by the Germanic scribes. The early versions of the period were diamond shaped instead of round. Printing typefaces were largely copies of the local handwriting style. Printing punctuation followed handwritten punctuation at first.

Aldus Manutius (both grandfather and grandson of the same name) were responsible for the invention of the period, colon, semicolon, and comma. The Manutius period was closer to the baseline period of today than the Roman dot that was placed at the mean line or horizontal middle of the sentence. Punctuation rules were not universal. William Caxton and other early printers used a haphazard and erratic punctuation style. It would be up to the dictionary and grammar books to establish the rules for use of the printer's invention.

Most punctuation marks originated in the century following printing's introduction. The comma and colon (komma and kolon) were used to mark off parts of text and the original names came from the name of that part of the poem or sentence.

The hyphen was originally a mark made on the side of the page to indicate the final word was not complete. The dash came from the word "blow" or "making a hasty stroke" of the pen. The period of course meant full stop. It had also been called point or "punctus" in Latin. Here you can visualize the origin of the word "punctuation."

The question mark was originally only a mark to the person reading out loud to change the inflection of the voice. The symbol came from a Latin word quaes tio or question. It was common to put the letter "q" followed by a period. The combination evolved into the question mark " ? ". An expression of happiness was "io" the letter "i" and period ".", which became the exclamation mark " ! ".

The latest attempt to include a new mark was in 1962. It was called the "interbang." It combined the need for a question with exclamation by over printing both marks into one symbol. The name was taken from the British names for the original marks, "interrogate" and "bang" (period). It would be used for rhetorical questions such as "Why?!" Punctuation Is Important!!!

The Original Letter As Intended:

Dear Ethel,

Are you a woman who can really see how I feel about you? You are beautiful, kind and thoughtful. Women who are not like you admit to being worthless and inferior. My feelings? I have doubled over all the years as my desire grows. For joy! For bliss! Any woman will do well to number your fine qualities. There are none to compare you with. Heaven is too high and far away. I've found happiness now. You have ruined me for other women. I yearn for you. I have no feelings at all when we're apart. I can be forever happy. Will you let me be yours? Fred

The Reset With Misplaced Punctuation:

Dear Ethel,

Are you a woman? Who can really see how I feel about you? All about you are beautiful, kind and thoughtful women who are not like you. Admit to being worthless and inferior. My feelings - I have doubled over. All the years as my desire grows for Joy, for Bliss - any woman will do! Well, to number your fine qualities: there are none. To compare you with Heaven is too high. And far away, I've found happiness now. You have ruined me. For other women, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings at all. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Fred