Editing Punctuation (section)

===Medieval===
Punctuation developed dramatically when large numbers of copies of the [[Bible]] started to be produced. These were designed to be read aloud, so the [[copyist]]s began to introduce a range of marks to aid the reader, including [[Indentation (typesetting)|indentation]], various punctuation marks ([[diple (textual symbol)|diple]], {{lang|grc-Latn|[[paragraphos]]}}, {{lang|la|simplex ductus}}), and an early version of initial capitals ({{lang|la|litterae notabiliores}}). [[Jerome]] and his colleagues, who made a translation of the Bible into [[Latin]], the [[Vulgate]] ({{circa|AD 400}}), employed a layout system based on established practices for teaching the speeches of [[Demosthenes]] and [[Cicero]]. Under his layout {{lang|la|per cola et commata}} every sense-unit was indented and given its own line. This layout was solely used for biblical manuscripts during the 5th–9th centuries but was abandoned in favor of punctuation.

In the 7th–8th centuries [[Irish people|Irish]] and [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] scribes, whose [[native language]]s were not derived from [[Latin]], added more visual cues to render texts more intelligible. Irish scribes introduced the practice of [[space (punctuation)|word separation]].<ref>{{cite book |first=M. B. |last=Parkes |chapter=The Contribution of Insular Scribes of the Seventh and Eighth Centuries to the 'Grammar of Legibility' |title=Scribes, Scripts and Readers: Studies in the Communication, Presentation and Dissemination of Medieval Texts |location=London |publisher=Hambledon Press |date=1991 |pages=1–18}}</ref> Likewise, insular scribes adopted the {{lang|grc-Latn|[[distinctiones]]}} system while adapting it for minuscule script (so as to be more prominent) by using not differing height but rather a differing number of marks—aligned horizontally (or sometimes triangularly)—to signify a pause's duration: one mark for a minor pause, two for a medium one, and three for a major one. Most common were the {{lang|la|punctus}}, a comma-shaped mark, and a 7-shaped mark ({{lang|la|comma positura}}), often used in combination. The same marks could be used in the margin to mark off quotations.

In the late 8th century a different system emerged in [[Francia|France]] under the [[Carolingian dynasty]]. Originally indicating how the voice should be [[modulation (music)|modulated]] when chanting the [[liturgy]], the {{lang|la|positurae}} migrated into any text meant to be read aloud, and then to all manuscripts. {{lang|la|[[Positurae]]}} first reached [[England]] in the late 10th century, probably during the Benedictine reform movement, but was not adopted until after the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman conquest]]. The original {{lang|la|positurae}} were the {{lang|la|punctus}}, {{lang|la|punctus elevatus}},<ref>{{cite web |title=Paleography: How to Read Medieval Handwriting |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |url=http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic453618.files/Central/editions/paleo.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208074905/http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic453618.files/Central/editions/paleo.html |archive-date= 8 December 2015 |access-date=13 November 2017}}</ref> {{lang|la|punctus versus}}, and {{lang|la|punctus interrogativus}}, but a fifth symbol, the {{lang|la|punctus flexus}}, was added in the 10th century to indicate a pause of a value between the {{lang|la|punctus}} and {{lang|la|punctus elevatus}}. In the late 11th/early 12th century the {{lang|la|punctus versus}} disappeared and was taken over by the simple {{lang|la|punctus}} (now with two distinct values).<ref>Raymond Clemens & Timothy Graham, ''Introduction to Manuscript Studies'' (Ithaca–London: Cornell UP, 2007), 84–6.</ref>

The [[late Middle Ages]] saw the addition of the {{lang|la|virgula suspensiva}} (slash or slash with a midpoint dot) which was often used in conjunction with the {{lang|la|punctus}} for different types of pauses. Direct quotations were marked with marginal diples, as in Antiquity, but from at least the 12th century scribes also began entering diples (sometimes double) within the column of text.