# When did punctuation start? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463 "2007-10-29T17:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/21 "2007-10-30T12:34:48Z")
I’m not sure where punctuation started, but I’m pretty sure it ended when Al Gore invented the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/22 "2007-10-30T13:03:12Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] I’m not sure where punctuation started, but I’m pretty sure it ended when Al Gore invented the internet. [/QUOTE] No, it ended with the period. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/23 "2007-10-30T20:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=jovan] In semitic languages, related words share the same consonants. These consonant clusters are called “roots”. See here for a short discussion of roots in Arabic: [Brief List of Arabic Word Roots](http://wahiduddin.net/words/arabic_glossary.htm) In semitic languages, two words that are made up of the same sequence of consonants are going to be related, you can tell them apart from the context. However, this is not the case in Greek. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I’ll check out the link in depth when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/24 "2007-10-30T20:31:29Z")
In answer to the question - \*\*When did punctuation start? \*\* - for many of my students, it has not yet begun. comment: It is interesting to note the time that punctuation began appearing in writing was roughly the same time that markings became present in music that told performers how long to hold a note, when to rest, etc. i.e. punctuation. I wonder what (if anything) that says about the development of literacy. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/25 "2007-10-30T23:35:56Z")
[QUOTE=CC] comment: It is interesting to note the time that punctuation began appearing in writing was roughly the same time that markings became present in music that told performers how long to hold a note, when to rest, etc. i.e. punctuation. I wonder what (if anything) that says about the development of literacy. [/QUOTE] Wasn’t musical notation developed through the monasteries? I seem to remember some doco about it a few years back. It would tie in logically. The Vatican wanting all hymns and readings to be consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/26 "2007-10-31T00:54:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Some have suggested that the question mark and other punctuation are derived from a medieval music notation system called neumes. In his book _With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made_ (2003), Leo Treitler reviews the evidence and suggests that both neumes and punctuation derived from lesson signs – punctuation had been around before neumes came into common use. He says, “The origin of the lesson signs – which are but punctuation marks in ecclesiastical texts – is the same as the origin of post-eighth century punctuation altogether: invention and normalization by French scribes as an aspect of the reform of language-writing technology.” [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mquestionmark.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mquestionmark.htm) _With Voice and Pen_ is a great resource on the development of medieval musical notation. _Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of Punctuation in the West_ (1993) by Parkes is equally good on the development of punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2007, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463/27 "2007-10-31T02:34:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] Has writing always included punctuation? I doubt it, but I have no (clear) answer! [/QUOTE] Hijack: consistent _spelling_ didn’t come in to English until the 19th century. I love the history of languages, English in particular. I advise amateur writers to learn it, so that when you’re confronted by a grammar nazi, you can cheerfully dismiss his or her idea as a “passing fad”. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-punctuation-start/424463.md?page=1)