<
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)