Ditto mark

''
Ditto mark
In Unicode	U+0027 ' <reserved-0027> (×2) U+0022 " <reserved-0022>
Related
See also	U+2033 ″ <reserved-2033> U+201D ” <reserved-201D> U+3003 〃 <reserved-3003> (CJK character)

The ditto mark is a shorthand sign, used mostly in hand-written text, indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.

The mark is made using "a pair of apostrophes"; "a pair of marks " used underneath a word"; the symbol " (quotation mark); or the symbol ” (right double quotation mark). The abbreviation "do." was a common alternative notation.

In the following example, the second line reads "Blue pens, box of twenty".

Black pens, box of twenty ... $2.10
Blue  "     "   "  "      ... $2.35

History

Ditto marks date to cuneiform tablets.

Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the Neo-Assyrian period (934–608 BCE) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text.

The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language, where it is the past participle of the verb dire (to say), with the meaning of "said", as in the locution "the said story". The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625.

In English, the abbreviation "do.", usually italicised, has sometimes been used instead of ditto marks - see example below, and also in a table in a U.S. Patent.

An advertisement from 1833. The second item on the list can be read as "Prime American Pork, in barrels", but the third and fourth are ambiguous as to the origin of the meat. The repetition indicator used is "do."(Perth Gazette)

Other languages

Bronzeware script, c. 825 BCE, showing "子_𠄠孫_𠄠寶用", where the small 𠄠 ("two") is used as iteration marks in the phrase "子子孫孫寶用" ("descendants to use and to treasure").

Other languages may use equivalent symbols. For example, in Norwegian and Swedish handwriting, a version using horizontal lines to indicate the span of the cell in a table where an entry repeats is sometimes seen (––〃––). In French, it is called a guillemet itératif, but the actual symbol used may vary: » is used in Quebec, while in France — is preferred. For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there is the specific Unicode character U+3003 〃 <reserved-3003> in the range CJK Symbols and Punctuation. This facilitates the setting of both marks on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text.

In China the corresponding historical mark was two horizontal lines 𠄠 (Unicode U+16FE3 𖿣 <reserved-16FE3>), which is also the ancient ideograph of "two", similar to the modern ideograph 二. It is found in bronze script from the Zhou dynasty, as in the example at right (c. 825 BCE). In seal script form this became 〻, and is now written as 々; see iteration mark.

The word kakaw (Mayan for cacao) written in the Maya script. The two dots near the fish's mouth indicate its ka sound is meant to be read twice.

In the Maya script, a pair of small dots may appear above or in front of a glyph to indicate that it should be read twice. This duplication diacritic functions as a phonetic doubling device, typically applied to syllabic signs. For example, the Maya word kakaw ("cacao") can be written with a ka sign marked by two small prefixed dots, signaling that it be read as ka-ka, followed by wa.

See also

• Dittography – Accidental repeating of content in text
• Ibid. – Latin footnote or endnote term referring to the previous source
• Iteration mark – Character or punctuation mark used to represent a duplicated character or word

External links

• The dictionary definition of ditto at Wiktionary
• Guillemet § Répétition at French Wikipedia