An interpunct is a small dot used for
interword separation in ancient Latin script,
being perhaps the first consistent visual representation of word
boundaries in written language. The dot is vertically centered,
e.g. "DONA·NOBIS·REQVIEM", and is therefore also
called a middle dot or centered dot. In addition to the
round dot form, inscriptions sometimes use a small
equilateral triangle for the interpunct, pointing either up or
down. Such triangles can be found on inscriptions on buildings in
the twentieth century.
Ancient Greek, by contrast, had not developed interpuncts; all the
letters ran together. When a wave of enthusiasm for all things
Greek swept ancient Rome, the use of
interpuncts disappeared, presumably being inadequately fashionable.
The use of spaces for word separation didn't
appear until much later, sometime between
600 and 800 AD.
In Unicode, the interpunct is code point 0183, or 00B7 in
hexadecimal. The HTML entity for an interpunct
is ·.
In British typography, an interpunct is
sometimes called a space dot.
In some word processors, interpuncts are used to denote either
hard space or space characters.
Grammar lessons in the Japanese language sometimes use a
similar symbol to separate a verb suffix from its root.
A punctuation mark resembling the interpunct is used in the
characteristically Catalan grapheme
"ŀl" (called ele geminada, "twinned l"). It is used to
distinguish a lengthened "l" from a palatized "l", written "ll".
See also
