Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Word for the day: octothorpe (#)
The Octothorp Press
About the Octothorp (#)
The Octothorp Press takes its name and logo from the printer's traditional name for a very common mark, the #. You probably know this glyph by one of its other names: the number, numeral, or pound sign — or (if you're a developer) the hash.
The word "octothorp" is so obscure that isn't even in the Oxford English Dictionary (first or second editions). Here's how the typographic stylist and philosopher Robert Bringhurst defines "octothorp" in his brilliant Elements of Typographic Style (p. 282):
Otherwise known as the numeral sign. It has also been used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois, but this usage is now archaic. In cartography, it is also a symbol for village: eight fields around a central square, and this is the source of its name. Octothorp means eight fields.
This kind of etymology usually raises red flags of suspicion — and rightly so. But we can testify that we've seen the octothorp on maps used in exactly the way Bringhurst says. (We'll try to add an image here showing this, when we can.)
The Octothorp Press
About the Octothorp (#)
The Octothorp Press takes its name and logo from the printer's traditional name for a very common mark, the #. You probably know this glyph by one of its other names: the number, numeral, or pound sign — or (if you're a developer) the hash.
The word "octothorp" is so obscure that isn't even in the Oxford English Dictionary (first or second editions). Here's how the typographic stylist and philosopher Robert Bringhurst defines "octothorp" in his brilliant Elements of Typographic Style (p. 282):
Otherwise known as the numeral sign. It has also been used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois, but this usage is now archaic. In cartography, it is also a symbol for village: eight fields around a central square, and this is the source of its name. Octothorp means eight fields.
This kind of etymology usually raises red flags of suspicion — and rightly so. But we can testify that we've seen the octothorp on maps used in exactly the way Bringhurst says. (We'll try to add an image here showing this, when we can.)
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