different between obelus vs vividities

English

Etymology

From Middle English obelus, obelo, from Old English obelus, from Late Latin obelus (“critical mark”), from Koine Greek ?????? (obelós, “critical mark”), Ancient Greek ?????? (obelós, “rod, spit; obelisk; critical mark”). The further etymology is uncertain; a derivation from ????? (bélos, “arrow, dart, missile”) (from Proto-Indo-European *g?elH- (“to pierce; to reach; to throw; to hit by throwing”)) has been suggested, but the initial vowel remains unexplained. The English word is a doublet of obelisk.

The plural form obeli is derived from Late Latin obeli, from Ancient Greek ?????? (obeloí).

Pronunciation

• Singular:
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??b?l?s/, /??bl?s/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /??b?l?s/
• Plural (obeli):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??b?la?/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /??b??la?/
• Hyphenation: obe?lus

Noun

obelus (plural obeluses or obeli) (typography)

1. (historical) A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ? or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant; an obelisk.
2. A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date; an obelisk.

Usage notes

• Obelus was used in Middle English, but thereafter was displaced by obelisk until the 19th century when both words began to be used with equal regularity.
• An obelus with two dots above and below the line (÷) is now often used in mathematical equations to represent division.

Derived terms

• double obelus (rare)
• obelic
• obelised, obelized (adjective)

Related terms

• obelisk
• obelism (obsolete, rare)
• obelise, obelize

Translations

See also

• double dagger

References

Further reading

• obelus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Belous, Lobues, besoul, blouse, boules

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: v?v??d?t?z, IPA^(key): /v??v?d?ti?z/

Noun

vividities

1. plural of vividity
   • 1823: AUTHOR UNKNOWN, The Lady’s magazine (and museum). Improved ser., enlarged, p266

     …and the vividities of passion, the writer may not have known how to procure the morrow’s sustenance.

   • 1925: Joseph Conrad, The Complete Works of Joseph Conrad, p255 (Nota bene: this citation and every one of those marked with a superscribed obelus (†) are identical copies of Joseph Conrad’s unfinished last novel “Suspense” (published posthumously in 1925))

     At every momentary pause in his long and fantastic adventure it returned with its splendid charm and glorious serenity, resembling the power of a great and unfathomable love whose tenderness like a sacred spell lays to rest all the vividities and all the violences of passionate desire.

   • 1977: Angus Wilson & John Holloway, Writers of East Anglia, p120

     We are the echoes from the planets,
     

     ??the blackbody vividities,
     

     ??and the high-energy tailing
     

     ??that flows from the springs of time. [?…]

   • 1995: Joseph Conrad, The Collected Works of Joseph Conrad, p255?^†

     At every momentary pause in his long and fantastic adventure it returned with its splendid charm and glorious serenity, resembling the power of a great and unfathomable love whose tenderness like a sacred spell lays to rest all the vividities and all the violences of passionate desire.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:vividities.