"Guillemet" comes from the French name Guillaume (which translates as
"William" in English.) It is believed that the double angle brackets
symbol was invented by a printer named Guillaume.
Here are a few links that provide information on the guillemet symbol:
"Etymology: French, from diminutive of Guillaume William (perhaps a
printer's name)
Date: circa 1905
Either of the marks « or » used as quotation marks in French writing"
Merriam-Webster
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?guillemet
"NOUN: Either of a pair of punctuation marks («) or (») used in some
languages, such as French and Russian, to mark the beginning and end
of a quotation.
ETYMOLOGY: French, diminutive of Guillaume, William (the name of its
supposed inventor)."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
http://www.bartleby.com/61/56/G0305650.html
In computer usage, the left double guillemet is ANSI code 171, while
the right double guillemet is ANSI code 187. A PC user can produce
these symbols in text by holding down the "Alt" key on the computer
keyboard, while simultaneously entering 0171 or 0187 on the numeric
keypad that is on the right of most keyboards. When you release the
"Alt" key, the symbol will appear. Further information about using
quotation symbols, including the guillemet, may be found here:
P22 Type Foundry Homepage
http://www.p22.com/tip/tipmar.html
The ISO Latin 1 Character Repertoire
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/latin1/3.html#AB
My Google search strategy:
"guillemet" + "symbol"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=guillemet+symbol
"guillemet" + "etymology"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=guillemet+etymology
Thanks for asking an interesting question. If anything I've said is
unclear, or if further information is needed, please ask for
clarification before rating my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
