apostrophus
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: apostrophi
Etymology: From Latin apostrophus.
Senses: examples: text: Vowels suffer also this apostrophus before the consonant h.
ref: 1640, Ben Jonson, The English Grammar: Book 2: Of Syntax:
text: Not that any examples are wanting to prove that the ancients did use the apostrophus in prose; for it was scarecely possible for them not to do so in many instances;
ref: 1824, August Matthiä, Copious Greek Grammar - Volume 1, page xxxvi:
text: Out of one word, the apostrophus is most usual in poesie;
ref: 1865, Alexander Hume, Henry Benjamin Wheatley, Of the Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britan Tongue:
glosses: The omission of a vowel or syllable from a word, usually indicated by the apostrophe symbol ( ' ). examples: 'til, can't
examples: text: The apostrophus or mark of contraction, is the same with the comma, onely the difference is of place; for, this stands not in the line, but over the upper part thereof, where the contraction is:
ref: 1644, Richard Hodges, The English Primrose:
text: In the Greek, as in other languages, a short vowel at the end of a word before another vowel, is thrown out by elision, and the apostrophus ' is placed as a mark or sign over the empty space;
ref: 1833, Philipp Buttmann, Edmund Henry Barker, Dr. Philip Buttmann's Intermediate Or Larger Greek Grammar, page 46:
text: This apocope is denoted by the apostrophus ( ' ),
ref: 1842, George Knox Gillespie, The Formative Greek Grammar, page 4:
glosses: The apostrophe symbol used to mark this elision.
examples: text: You find not the apostrophus, and so miss the accent. Let me supervise the canzonet.
ref: 1598, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost:
text: In the early Graduals Benevento VI. 38 and 40, the apostrophus is common in syllabic passages in sequences, tropes and prosulae.
ref: 2009, Iain Fenlon, Early Music History, page 66:
text: In transcriptions from Ben 34, I have not distinguished the apostrophus from regular notes.
ref: 2010, Rebecca Maloy, Inside the Offertory: Aspects of Chronology and Transmission, page iv:
text: The early Beneventan apostrophus was optional, instructive and exemplary, suggesting low, quick, unaccented syllables at the start of a phrase (sometimes implying a preceding breath) in the Gregorian Mass Propers and short or quick syllables in tropes, prosulae and sequences.
ref: 2017, John Boe, Chant and Notation in South Italy and Rome before 1300, page 66:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: An open notehead ( ~ ) or an apostrophe ( ' ) used as a neume to mark a low, unaccented syllable at the beginning of a phrase or a short quick syllable
examples: text: In every multiplication with ten a fresh apostrophus is added; thus IↃↃ = 5000, IↃↃↃ = 50,000.
ref: 1862, Richard Hiley, The Elements of Latin Grammar, page 26:
text: The annexing of the apostrophus or inverted C (Ↄ) to IↃ makes its value ten times greater;
ref: 1878, Ethan Allen Andrews, Grammar of the Latin Language, page 72:
text: The symbol Ↄ, known as the apostrophus, might be repeated one or more times after IↃ , each Ↄ making the number ten times greater, as IↃↃ = 5000, IↃↃↃↃ = 500,000.
ref: 2002, Allied Chambers, The Chambers Dictionary:
text: Anno CIↃ IↃ C LXXXVI. (Apostrophus numbering): In the year 1686
ref: 2018, Jan K. Coetzee, Books & Bones & Other Things, page 78:
glosses: The symbol 'Ↄ', used in Roman numerals to indicate multiplication by 10.