At 20:07 +0100 2002-08-20, Marion Gunn wrote:
>In re the 'ornamental' use of the apostrophe to anglicize Irish surnames, I
>believe that practice to be unique to English (viz., inserting an
>apostrophe where nothing is omitted, and it does not function as a
>punctuation mark).
It's not ornamental in origin. It serves to link, as a hyphen does,
while graphically recalling the acute accent. I suspect it's in
origin just an acute gone wayward, and then reanalyzed as a
punctuation mark.
>Am I wrong, or is what I call the English practice actually unique to
>English,
Analogous, if not similar, uses of the apostrophe are found in Dutch,
if memory serves, in place and personal names.
-- Michael Everson *** Everson Typography *** http://www.evertype.com
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