virgule

character Rare, and ambiguous: slash or comma.

"Virgule" (or rather, Latin "virgula", meaning "little rod"

or, vividly enough, "little penis") was the name of a

punctuation character shaped like a small slash and used in

the Latin writing system much like a modern comma -- hence

the ambiguity of this term in modern English.

Compare French "virgule" and Italian "virgola", meaning

"comma" (not "slash"); Italian "doppia virgola" and

"virgoletta", both meaning "double quote".

(1997-04-08)