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| == Unicode == | | == Unicode == |
| The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at {{tt|0xA7}} (167) in [[ISO-8859-1]], a position that was inherited by United as [[code point]] {{unichar|00A7|Section Sign}}. | | The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at {{tt|0xA7}} (167) in [[ISO-8859-1]], a position that was inherited by United as [[code point]] {{unichar|00A7|Section Sign}}. |
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| == Origin ==
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| Two possible origins are often posited for the section sign: most probably, that it is a [[typographical ligature |ligature]] formed by the combination of two [[S]] glyphs (from the [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:en:signum#Latin |signum]] [[wikt:en:sectio#Latin |sectiōnis]]'').<ref name="Webb-2018">{{cite book |title=Clash of Symbols |last=Webb |first=Stephen |year=2018 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |type=eBook |isbn=978-3-319-71350-2 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=529GDwAAQBAJ&dq=signum+sectionis&pg=PA22}}</ref><ref name="Radoeva2017">{{cite web |publisher=[[Monotype Imaging]] |title=The section sign |series=Punctuation series |last=Radoeva |first=Krista |url=https://www.fontsmith.com/blog/2017/01/12/punctuation-series-the-section-sign |date=2017-01-12 |access-date=2020-07-19}}</ref><ref name="Webster1886"/><ref>{{cite book |page=32 |url={{GBurl|id=aR1PAAAAYAAJ}} |title=Aids to English Composition, Prepared for Students of All Grades |first=Richard Green |last=Parker |year=1851 |location=New York |publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]]}}</ref> Some scholars, however, are skeptical of this explanation.<ref>{{cite thesis |year=1894 |first=Erwin Herbert |last=Lewis |title=The History of the English Paragraph |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=11, 16–17 |url={{GBurl|id=HP00AQAAMAAJ}} |oclc=6077629}}</ref>
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| Others have theorized that it is an adaptation of the [[Ancient Greek language |Ancient Greek]] {{lang |grc |παράγραφος}} (''[[paragraphos]]''),<ref name="Webster1886">{{cite book |via=[[Internet Archive]] |page=1784 |title= Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language |last=Webster |first=Noah |author-link=Noah Webster |year=1886 |location=London |publisher=[[George Bell & Sons]] |edition=Authorized and Unabridged |chapter=Arbitrary signs used in writing and printing |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/websterscomplete00webs/page/1784/mode/2up}}</ref> a catch-all term for a class of [[punctuation marks]] used by [[scribes]] with diverse shapes and intended uses.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garulli |first=Valentina |title=The Materiality of Text: Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity |date=2018-10-09 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-37943-5 |editor-last=Petrovic |editor-first=Andrej |page=106 |chapter=Lectional Signs in Greek Verse Inscriptions |type=eBook |doi=10.1163/9789004379435_006 |s2cid=198732053 |editor2=Thomas |editor-first2=Edmund |editor3=Petrovic |editor-first3=Ivana}}</ref>
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| The modern form of the sign, with its modern meaning, has been in use since the [[15th century]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The history of the English paragraph |page= [https://archive.org/details/historyofenglish00lewirich/page/16/mode/1up 16] |via=Archive.org |last=Lewis |first=Edwin Herbert |date=1894 |publisher=University of Chicago}}</ref>
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| == In literature ==
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| In [[Jaroslav Hašek]]'s ''[[The Good Soldier Švejk]]'', the {{Char|§}} symbol is used repeatedly to mean "[[bureaucracy]]". In his English translation of 1930, [[Paul Selver]] translated it as "[[red tape]]".
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| == See also == | | == See also == |
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| {{navbox punctuation}} | | {{navbox punctuation}} |
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| [[Category:Punctuation]]
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| [[Category:Typographical symbols]]
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