Useless fact
What is the double dagger symbol called?
The double dagger typographical symbol (‡), used chiefly for footnotes, is officially called a diesis.
The double dagger symbol, represented as ‡, has a long history in typography and editing. It originally evolved from the obelus, a mark used by ancient scholars to denote doubtful or spurious passages in manuscripts. Over centuries, as printing technologies developed, the symbol took on its modern form. In modern publishing, the double dagger is primarily used as a third footnote indicator, following the asterisk and the single dagger. The term diesis comes from the ancient Greek word for division or letting go, which was also used in music theory to describe a small interval. Today, the name diesis is recognized by major dictionaries and reference works, including the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. Additionally, the Unicode Consortium officially recognizes diesis as an alternative name for the double dagger character under the code point U+2021 in the General Punctuation block. This helps programmers and typographers identify and render the character consistently across different digital platforms and devices.
Why this is true — The term diesis is defined by Merriam-Webster and the Unicode Consortium as the name of the double dagger symbol (‡).
Sources
- diésis | Diccionario de la lengua española Real Academia Española
- General Punctuation The Unicode Consortium