Semicolon as a punctuation mark
Punto y coma como signo de puntuación
- Date
- 1494 (impreso en 1496) · confidence medium
- Place
- Venice, Italy
- Credited to
- Aldus Manutius (printer); Pietro Bembo (author of the text)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
The mark first appears in Pietro Bembo's 'De Aetna', printed by Aldus Manutius in Venice, as an intermediate value between the comma and the colon.
In 1561 Aldus Manutius the Younger formalised its use in 'Orthographiae ratio', describing it as an intermediate value between the comma and the colon.
What it led to
- Modern hierarchical punctuation in printed prose
- Renaissance typographic standardisation
- Punctuation rules codified by Aldus Manutius the Younger (1561)