Dieresis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mark used over a vowel signifies that it should be pronounced distinctly from an adjoining vowel to prevent blending
2. This notation serves to indicate the separate articulation of vowel sounds, ensuring clarity in pronunciation
3. A diacritic placed over a vowel indicates that it should be pronounced separately from a neighboring vowel to avoid blending

Etymology: The mark itself is older than the English word. Greek grammarians used the term "diairesis" for the division of a diphthong into two syllables, and the Greek verb "diairein" meant "to divide" or "to separate." The Greek word built the prefix "dia-" ("through, apart") onto "hairein" ("to take, seize"), so the underlying idea is of taking something apart. Later Latin borrowed the term as "diaeresis" with the same sense of dividing sounds. English took the word directly from Late Latin, without adapting its spelling, and it kept the original technical meaning of splitting a diphthong. Writers later used the same two dots to show that a vowel sounds apart from its neighbour, as in "naïve" or "Brontë," where the mark tells readers to say the final vowel separately rather than blending it into the one before. The spelling "dieresis" is an alternative form of the same word.

Synonyms: diaeresis