OBELUS

TileHead’s Word of the Day for 16 August 2011

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OBELUS  (n. pl. OBELI)

Definition(s):

1. (n.) a symbol (– or ÷) used in ancient passages to indicate a questionable or superfluous passage
2. (n.) the division symbol (÷)
3. (n.) another name for the dagger symbol (†)

Useful information for game players:

• Front hooks: (none)
• Back hooks: (none)
• Anagrams: BLOUSE, BOULES
• Longer extensions: (none)
• Wraparounds: (none)
• Other Spellings: (none)
• Related Forms: OBELISE (v.), OBELISM (v.), OBELIZE (v.)

Epilogue:
It’s probably best to clarify what you mean if you refer to an OBELUS (or, improbably, to multiple OBELI).  While the word nearly always refers to the division sign (÷) now, in the past it was sometimes used to refer to symbols such as the en dash (–) or the dagger (†).  All of these different symbols were sometimes used by ancient writers to mark doubtful or spurious passages, such as in comparing different versions or translations of a text.  The OBELUS (in the ÷ form) was adopted as a division symbol in the mid-seventeenth century.  The word derives from the Greek obelos (“pointed stick or pointed pillar”), the same root behind the word OBELISK (“a four-sided shaft of stone with a pyramidal top”).

This week’s theme: Words starting with the letter O

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