# What is the name of this diacritical mark? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613 "2014-05-04T02:42:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/1 "2014-05-04T02:42:10Z")
Or is it even considered one? Once upon a time, it wasn’t unusual for a name beginning with “Mc” to have the “c” raised like a superscript (almost), and a small mark underneath it. [Fer example.](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/1459230_10152198529204059_441183114_n_zps82ddad59.jpg.html#/user/badger60/media/1459230_10152198529204059_441183114_n_zps82ddad59.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/2 "2014-05-04T02:47:17Z")
Looks like a tilde (~) but I can’t tell from the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/3 "2014-05-04T03:02:25Z")
I don’t think it’s a diacritical mark (it’s still pronounced McMaster, right), I think it’s just a stylistic choice in the way the word was written. IOW, it’s makes the guys name look nice. ---
**Author:** ![goldmund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a4c791/32.png) [@goldmund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/goldmund)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/4 "2014-05-04T03:13:35Z")
It’s a [macron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macron), and indicates an abbreviation. In this case, it represents the “a” left out of “Mac”, and has migrated below the “c”. [Cite](http://www.mcaninch.net/Surname/mcsurpg1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/5 "2014-05-04T03:14:28Z")
Its purpose is to show that the C is superscript, which means that it is meant to be read with a preceeding A (i.e. \*\*M[sup]c[/sup] \*\*is to be read as **Mac** ). A good explanation [here](http://www.isos.dias.ie/libraries/AUS(2)/AUS(2)_MS_Norcia_Irish_Prayer/english/?ref=): note the dot, which may be the origin of your bar. (In which case it’s called the “punctum delens.”) From that page: “When consonants are written in this superscript position it means that they are to be read as being preceded by an a. Thus the medieval scribes wrote gac(h) ‘every’ as a g with a c above it. Úa h-Úmhair modifies this particular medieval contraction by writing the c after the g; but it is still raised in the air by a dot which is placed under it (and there is a dot over it as well to indicate the following h). Readers with Scottish surnames beginning in Mac- or Mc- may spot something significant here. The ancient contraction for mac ‘son’ shows the same evolution. It starts off life as an m with a c written above it, but in time the c is written after the m, though still in a raised position.” (If I can get the unicode right, _gach_ becomes _g[sup]̇[/sup]_) Edit: it looks like I did not get the unicode right. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/6 "2014-05-04T03:16:38Z")
Well that’s interesting. I was familiar with the macron, but never considered that that usage was also considered a macron. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/7 "2014-05-04T03:30:57Z")
Some interesting discussion here: [http://typophile.com/node/39917](http://typophile.com/node/39917) I can’t find anything about it in my copy of Bringhurst’s _The Elements of Typographic Style._ ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/8 "2014-05-04T04:33:01Z")
Interesting. I bear such a surname and was taught to put two short vertical lines under the c when I learned to write my name in the early 1960s. A couple of years ago I was reflecting with my father on how that fashion seems to have disappeared. I’m not sure what to blame; typewriters and moveable type were already common, even in my childhood. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/9 "2014-05-04T15:04:13Z")
Great thread, close to my heart. Everyone into this should read _[Pause and Effect: Punctuation in the West](http://www.amazon.com/Pause-Effect-Punctuation-M-Parkes/dp/0520079418)_ by M.B. Parkes. (Note how I skirted the damn genitive apostrophe? Should name initials be close up? [Should “close” be pronounced with a “z” sound, like some defective verb? [[Yes, for copy editors and typographers.]]) The history of the comma, it turns out, is critical to the inventions of music notation in the West. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/10 "2014-05-04T15:29:44Z")
It’s typography, not orthography. It’s not a diacritical mark. It’s just an alternative means of showing an abbreviation. In that sense you might call it quasi-punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/11 "2014-05-04T16:33:41Z")
> [@goldmund](#): > > It’s a [macron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macron), and indicates an abbreviation. In this case, it represents the “a” left out of “Mac”, and has migrated below the “c”. > > [Cite](http://www.mcaninch.net/Surname/mcsurpg1.htm) So, alternatively, a M[sup]c[/sup]Ron. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/12 "2014-05-04T20:23:06Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > Interesting. I bear such a surname and was taught to put two short vertical lines under the c when I learned to write my name in the early 1960s. A couple of years ago I was reflecting with my father on how that fashion seems to have disappeared. I’m not sure what to blame; typewriters and moveable type were already common, even in my childhood. 🙂 That is also my experience. Well, except for what my first grade teacher tried to “teach” me during the first hour of the first day of school; that bint told me I was misspelling my own family name and that it should start with “ma”. I got in trouble when I told her where to go and what I thought of her family name. 😃 > [@njtt](#): > > So, alternatively, a M[sup]c[/sup]Ron. 😃 Where’s that little devil’s horn emoticon when you need it? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/13 "2014-05-04T23:57:17Z")
“Bint”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/14 "2014-05-05T00:24:53Z")
You don’t want to know. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/15 "2014-05-05T14:00:59Z")
Arabic for girl or daughter, taken, apparently into English as a derogatory term for (unpleasant?) woman. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/16 "2014-05-05T14:06:01Z")
England only? Is it commonly understood there? Is it new? Never, ever heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-diacritical-mark/687613/17 "2014-05-05T14:41:01Z")
[bint](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bint?s=t) > [@](#): > > noun British Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. > a contemptuous term used to refer to a woman or girl. > Origin: > 1850–55; \< Arabic: girl, daughter > > Usage note > This British term is used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting. It was originally British military slang, later adopted by Allied servicemen during both world wars.