Editing Slash (punctuation) (section)

==History==
Slashes may be found in early writing as a variant form of [[dash (typography)|dashes]], [[vertical bar|vertical strokes]], etc. The present use of a slash distinguished from such other marks derives from the [[medieval Europe]]an [[#virgule|virgule]] ({{langx|la|virgula}}, {{nowrap|<small>{{abbr|lit|literally}}.</small> "twig"),}} which was used as a [[full stop|period]], [[#scratch|scratch comma]], and [[caesura mark]].<ref name="virg">{{cite dictionary |dictionary=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=Corrected reissue |entry=Virgule |date=1933 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%2012%20-%20Variant/page/n238/mode/1up?view=theater 235] |volume=XII}}</ref> (The first sense was eventually lost to the [[full stop|low dot]] and the other two developed separately into the [[comma]] {{char|,}} and [[caesura mark]] {{char|{{!}}{{!}}}}) Its use as a comma became especially widespread in [[Kingdom of France|France]], where it was also used to mark the continuation of a word onto the next line of a page, a sense later taken on by the [[hyphen]] {{char|-}}.<ref name="partridge">{{cite book |last=Partridge |first=Eric |title=You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=London |date=2003 |orig-year=1953 |isbn=9781134942244 |contribution=The Virgule (or Virgil) or the Oblique |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lN-KAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155] ff }}</ref> The [[Fraktur]] script used throughout [[Central Europe]] in the [[early modern period]] used a single slash as a scratch comma and a double slash {{char|//}} as a dash. The double slash developed into the [[Double hyphen|double oblique hyphen]] {{char|⸗}} and [[double hyphen]] {{char|⹀}} before being usually simplified into [[dash|various single dashes]].

In the 18th century, the mark was generally known in English as the "[[#oblique|oblique]]".<ref name="oedobli">{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=3rd |contribution=oblique, ''adj., n.,'' and ''adv.'' |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> but particularly the less vertical [[#fraction|fraction slash]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |contribution=diagonal, ''adj.'' and ''n.'' |date=1895 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> The variant "oblique stroke" was increasingly shortened to "[[#stroke|stroke]]", which became the common British name for the character, although printers and publishing professionals often instead referred to it as an "oblique". In the 19th and early 20th century, it was also widely known as the "[[#shilling|shilling mark]]" or "[[#solidus|solidus]]", from its use as a notation or abbreviation for the [[shilling]].<ref name="oedshill">{{cite dictionary |title=Oxford English Dictionary |edition=1st |volume=VIII |page=697 |entry=shilling, ''n.'' |date=1914 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Murray |editor-first=James A. H. |first=Henry |last=Bradley |quote=1. An English money of account, since the Norman Conquest of the value of 12 pence or {{sfrac|20}} of a pound sterling. Abbreviated s. (__{{nbsp}}L. {{lang|la|solidus}}: see SOLIDUS), formerly also sh., shil.; otherwise denoted by the sign /- after the numeral. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.31856/page/n1677/mode/1up}}</ref><ref name="oedsolid">{{Cite dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.99986/page/n23/mode/1up |title=The Oxford English Dictionary |volume=X (sole{{ndash}}sz) |entry=solidus |date=1913 |page=401 |via=Internet Archive |quote=2. a sloping line used to separate shillings from pence. A shilling mark.}}</ref> The name "slash" is a recent development, not appearing in [[Webster's Dictionary]] until the Third Edition (1961)<ref>Compare {{cite dictionary | dictionary= Webster's Third New International Dictionary |date=1961 |entry =Slash (n) |url=https://archive.org/details/webstersthirdnew0000phil/page/2138/mode/1up}} with {{cite dictionary |title=Webster's New American dictionary : completely new and up to date. |date=1947 |entry =Slash (n) |url=https://archive.org/details/webstersnewameri04teal/page/936/mode/1up}}</ref>{{efn|Nevertheless, the word was already being used in official publications, such as the 1947 [[style guide]] of the US Department of Agriculture Forestry Service.<ref>{{cite book |title=Style Manual for publications |first=E. vH |last=Larson |publisher=US Department of Agriculture Forestry Service |date=1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgrxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22followed+by+a+slash%22 |access-date=19 March 2023 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408085857/https://books.google.com/books?id=BgrxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22followed+by+a+slash%22 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} but has gained wide currency through its use in [[#Computing|computing]], a context where it is sometimes used in British English in preference to "stroke". Clarifying terms such as "forward slash" have been coined owing to widespread use of [[Microsoft]]'s [[MS-DOS|DOS]] and [[Windows (OS)|Windows]] [[operating system]]s, which use the [[backslash]] extensively.<ref name="jed">{{cite journal |last=Hartman |first=Jed |title=A Slash by Any Other Name |url=http://www.kith.org/journals/neology/2011/12/a_slash_by_any_other_name.html |date=27 December 2011 |access-date=15 February 2016 |journal=Neology |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411015553/http://www.kith.org/journals/neology/2011/12/a_slash_by_any_other_name.html |archive-date=11 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="turton">{{cite magazine |last=Turton |first=Stuart |url=http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352510/berners-lee-web-address-slashes-were-a-mistake |title=Berners-Lee: web address slashes were 'a mistake' |magazine=[[PC Pro]] |date=15 October 2009 |access-date=21 September 2011 |archive-date=4 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104013102/http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/352510/berners-lee-web-address-slashes-were-a-mistake |url-status=live}}</ref>