| obelisk (†) |
| Definition: A printer's mark used to indicate footnotes and marginal references. |
| Usage:
1. Use it to indicate a second footnote when an asterisk has already been used. |
| Etymology:
The word derives from the Greek obeliskos, which is the diminutive of obelos, pointed pillar.
Note: Ancient Greek editors would put obelisks in the margins of manuscripts to point out lines whose origin was doubtful. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation in its punctuation-mark sense is from 1583: "Whatsoever is not found in the canon of the Jews … St. Jerome did thrust through with a spit or obelisk, as not worthy to be received." (Fulke Defence (1843) 25) |