Guillemets

From: Michael Everson (everson@indigo.ie)
Date: Fri Jul 17 1998 - 04:42:14 EDT


Ar 13:27 -0700 1998-07-16, scríobh John Cowan:

>The *preferred* quote mark varies, yes, but what *is* a quote
>mark is invariable. I would never mark quotations with guillemets,
>but I recognize guillemets as quotation marks.

Nunh unh, John. In many languages the quotation dash is used at the
beginning of a quotation (usually direct speech, not other kinds of
citation), and such dashes do not appear in pairs.

À propos (not A propos) « guillemets ». Apparently they are named for
Guillaume
Le Bé "who may have invented them" (Bringhurst 1997:279). Are these not
also called "goose feet"? If so, cf. « guillemot » which in English is also
"guillemot" 'any fast-flying sea bird of the genus Uria or Cepphus, nesting
on cliffs or islands', which also apparently derives from Guillaume.

The Collins-Robert French-English dictionary defines « guillemet » in
English as 'inverted comma, quotation mark' without reference to shape.

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