Lost in Translation – Typographic variation in loanword surrounded punctuation positions

Abstract

In German printings of the early 18th century, the shift from the hitherto dominant sentence-dividing punctuation mark, the virgule, to the comma, takes place astonishingly rapidly. It is also astonishing that until recently, research has barely devoted itself to this phenomenon, even though it is at least a turning point in the history of the highest-frequency punctuation mark in German writing.

Keywords

• punctuation
• typographic variation
• loanwords
• virgule
• 18th century