• virgule •
Pronunciation: vêr-gyul • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. (Typography) Forward slash (/). 2. (Typography) Pipe (|), used mostly to mark poetic meter.
Notes: Today's virgule is an extended version of a shorter slash used from the 13th to the 17th centuries that also developed into today's comma. The word comes with an adjective, virgular, but nothing else. No one seems to have tried virgularity yet.
In Play: The virgule is also used to separate the constituents of fractions, like 1/2 and 3/4. It appears regularly when either of two words fits the context: and/or, his/her. male/female.
Word History: Today's Good Word comes, yet again, from English's Old French booty, this time an unvarnished copy of virgule. French modified its Latin inheritance only modestly, from virgula "twig, tiny rod, wand", a diminutive of virga "slender branch, twig, sprout", which Latin obtained from PIE wey-r- "bending, flexible, wickerwork", source also of English wire, Welsh cwyr "wax", Breton goar "wax", and Latin varius "varied, different". With other PIE extensions we find Lithuanian viela "wire" (from PIE wei-l-), and Latin vimen "wattle, wickerwork" (from PIE wei-m-). French virgule, Italian virgola, Portuguese vírgula, and Romanian virgulă all mean "comma" today. (Now for an e-bow of gratitude to Gary Cook for noticing today's lovely Good Word and sharing it with us.)
