| § | |
|---|---|
Section sign | |
| In Unicode | U+00A7 §SECTION SIGN (§) |
| Related | |
| See also | U+00B6 ¶PILCROW SIGN |
Thesection sign (§) is atypographical symbol for referencing individually numberedsections of a document; it is frequently used when citing sections of alegal code.[1] It is also known as thesection symbol,section mark,double-s, orsilcrow.[2][3] In other languages it may be called the "paragraph symbol" (for example,German:Paragrafzeichen). The section sign typically appears akin to a letter S stacked on top of another S.[4]
The section sign is often used when referring to a specific section of alegal code. For example, inBluebook style, "Title 16 of the United States Code Section 580p" becomes "16 U.S.C. § 580p".[5] The section sign is frequently used along with thepilcrow (orparagraph sign),¶, to reference a specificparagraph within a section of a document. However, some jurisdictions prefer the sign be avoided, and rather that the word "section" be written out in full.[6]
While§ is usually read in spoken English as the word "section", many other languages use the word "paragraph" exclusively to refer to a section of a document (especially of legal text), and use other words to describe a paragraph in the English sense. Consequently, in those cases "§" may be read as "paragraph", and may occasionally also be described as a "paragraph sign", but this is a description of its usage, not a formal name.[7][8]
When duplicated, as§§, it is read as the plural "sections". For example, "§§ 13–21" would be read as "sections 13 through 21", much aspp. (pages) is the plural ofp., meaningpage.
It may also be used with footnotes whenasterisk*,dagger†, anddouble dagger‡ have already been used on a given page.
It is common practice to follow the section sign with anon-breaking space so that the symbol is kept with the section number being cited.[1][9]: 212, 233
The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at0xA7 (167) inISO-8859-1, a position that was inherited by Unicode ascode pointU+00A7 §SECTION SIGN. Representation of the sign is an artistic decision within the overall design language of the typeface (orcomputer font): the two more commonly seen forms are shown here.[10] In all cases, the sign is encoded by U+00A7.
Two possible origins are often posited for the section sign: most probably, that it is aligature formed by the combination of twoS glyphs (from theLatinsignumsectiōnis).[11][2][12][13] Some scholars, however, are skeptical of this explanation.[14]
Others have theorized that it is an adaptation of theAncient Greekπαράγραφος (paragraphos),[12] a catch-all term for a class ofpunctuation marks used byscribes with diverse shapes and intended uses.[15]
The modern form of the sign, with its modern meaning, has been in use since the15th century.[16]
InJaroslav Hašek'sThe Good Soldier Švejk, the§ symbol is used repeatedly to mean "bureaucracy". In his English translation of 1930,Paul Selver translated it as "red tape".
Media related toSection signs at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition ofSection signs at Wiktionary