Virgula

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvəːɡjʊlə/

Definitions

1. A small stroke resembling a comma, used in writing to indicate a pause or to separate elements in a list
2. A punctuation mark, often referring to a point of division with a slight curve that serves to clarify meaning
3. A term used in some languages to describe a separator in texts, functioning similarly to a decimal point or a comma in numerical formats

Etymology: The Latin "virga" meant a branch or rod, and its diminutive "virgula" meant a little twig, a wand, or, by extension, a small mark like a scratch. That slender-stick image carried into English through a surprising route: "virgula divina," the "divine rod," was the forked twig used in dowsing to locate water or metal underground. The same word thus names both a divining stick and a small stroke on the page. The mark it names is the slash-like separator still found in some languages' texts and numbers, doing a job similar to a comma or decimal point. The word is a doublet of "virgule," the same Latin root reached through French rather than directly, so English ended up with two forms of one little stroke. The shape of the mark, a thin line stroked downward, is what the old "twig" sense preserved.