Ditto mark

The ditto mark is a sign indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.[1][2]

' ' "
Ditto mark
In UnicodeU+0027 ' APOSTROPHE (HTML ' · ')
U+0022 " QUOTATION MARK (HTML " · ", ")
Related
See alsoU+00BB » RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
U+201E „ DOUBLE LOW-9 QUOTATION MARK (HTML „ · „, „)
U+03003 〃 DITTO MARK (HTML 〃) (CJK character)
Different from
Different fromU+2033 ″ DOUBLE PRIME (HTML ″ · ″)

The mark is made using 'a pair of apostrophes';[1] 'a pair of marks " ';[3] the symbol " (quotation mark);[2][4] or the symbol ” (right double quotation mark).[5]

For example:

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

In English, the abbreviation "do." has sometimes been used.

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)

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.[6]

Bronzeware script, c. 825 BCE, showing "子二孫二寶用", where the small 二 ("two") is used as iteration marks in the phrase "子子孫孫寶用" ("descendants to use and to treasure").

In China the corresponding historical mark was two horizontal lines 二 (also the symbol of "two"), found in bronze script from the Zhou Dynasty, as in the example at right (circa 825 BCE). In script form this became 〻, and is now written as 々; see iteration mark.

The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language,[7] 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.[7]

Other languages

For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there is the specific Unicode character U+3003 〃 DITTO MARK in the range CJK Symbols and Punctuation. This facilitates the setting of both marks on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text.

The equivalent symbol used in other languages are the corresponding quotation mark pointing to the right (» in French, „ in German, etc.) In French, it is called a guillemet itératif.[8][9]

See also

Notes

    References
    1. "Ditto mark". Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 3 November 2016. the mark is a symbol made from two apostrophes
    2. "Ditto mark". Collins Dictionaries. Retrieved 30 December 2019. two small marks (") placed under something to indicate that it is to be repeated
    3. "English Language Learners Definition of ditto (Entry 1 of 2)". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
    4. "Ditto". Cambridge Dictionaries. Retrieved 30 December 2019. but the Cambridge Dictionary of Business English on the same page uses the CJK ditto mark (〃)
    5. Angus Stevenson; Maurice Waite, eds. (18 August 2011). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. ISBN 9780199601110.
    6. K.4375 and File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg
    7. Definition at The Free Dictionary
    8. "Banque de dépannage linguistique: Guillemets itératifs" [Linguistic help desk: Iterative quotes] (in French). Office québécois de la langue française. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
    9. définition de guillemet itératif et synonymes de guillemet itératif ... Le Parisien. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
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