In the 3rd century BC,
Aristophanes of Byzantium invented a system of single
dots (
distinctiones) that separated verses (colometry) and indicated the amount of breath needed to complete each fragment of text when
reading aloud.
[3] The different lengths were signified by a dot at the bottom, middle, or top of the line. For a short passage (a
komma), a
media distinctio dot was placed mid-level (
· ). This is the origin of the concept of a comma, although the name came to be used for the mark itself instead of the clause it separated.
The mark used today is descended from a diagonal
slash, or
virgula suspensiva (
/ ), used from the 13th to 17th centuries to represent a pause. The modern comma was first used by
Aldus Manutius.
[4][5]
