semicolon 的词源

also semi-colon，标点符号中的分号，形状是一个点在一个逗号上方，用来表示比逗号所标示的句子更独立的结构，出现于1640年代。这是一个混合词，由拉丁语前缀semi-（意为“半”）和希腊语词根colon（意为“句子”或“部分”）结合而成。这个符号在希腊语中本身就是“问号”的意思。semicolon butterfly（分号蝴蝶，约1841年在美式英语中出现）之所以得名，是因为它翅膀上的银色标记。

[T]he semicolon was a Latin delicacy which the obtuse English typographer resisted. So late as 1580 and 1590 treatises on orthography do not recognize any such innovation ; the Bible of 1592, though printed with appropriate accuracy, is without a semicolon ; but in 1633 its full rights are established by Charles Butler's English Grammar. ... [I]t is evident that Shakespeare could never have used the semicolon ; a circumstance which the profound George Chalmers mourns over, opining that semicolons would often have saved the poet from his commentators. [Isaac. D'Israeli, "Amenities of Literature," 1841]

[T]he semicolon was a Latin delicacy which the obtuse English typographer resisted. So late as 1580 and 1590 treatises on orthography do not recognize any such innovation; the Bible of 1592, though printed with appropriate accuracy, is without a semicolon; but in 1633 its full rights are established by Charles Butler's English Grammar. ... [I]t is evident that Shakespeare could never have used the semicolon; a circumstance which the profound George Chalmers mourns over, opining that semicolons would often have saved the poet from his commentators. [Isaac D'Israeli, "Amenities of Literature," 1841]