SYM·0089 · Asteriskos
Asterisk
a judgement about Homer
- Unicode
- U+002A asterisk
- Meaning
- Little star. A pointer to something set aside from the main text — and, latterly, a warning that the statement above is not quite true.
- History
- One of the critical signs used by the Alexandrian scholars editing Homer: the asteriskos marked a line wrongly omitted or misplaced, while the obelos marked one judged spurious. Modern footnoting inherits both, in order — the standard sequence still runs * † ‡ § ‖ ¶, which is Alexandrian textual criticism followed by the medieval scribal apparatus, preserved as a queue.
- Variants
- Five-, six- and eight-pointed forms; raised or centred on the line.
- Related
- † Dagger, its twin from the same desk.
- Appears
- Footnotes, wildcards in search and code, redacted words, and the sporting record with a caveat attached.
- Evolution
- Editorial judgement on Homer → footnote marker → wildcard → the mark of a claim that needs qualifying.
Sources · 3
- documented The Alexandrian critical signs, the asteriskos and obelos, in the scholia to Homer.
- documented The Chicago Manual of Style, which sets the note sequence * † ‡ § ‖ ¶ in that order.
- documented The Unicode Standard, U+002A ASTERISK.