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The obelus is believed to have been invented by the [[Homeric scholarship|Homeric scholar]] [[Zenodotus]] as one of a system of editorial symbols. They marked questionable or corrupt words or passages in manuscripts of the [[Homeric epics]].<ref name="Oxford"/><ref name="scanlin">{{cite book|author=Harold P. Scanlin|editor=Alison Salvesen|title =Origen's Hexapla and fragments: papers presented at the Rich Seminar on the Hexapla, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 25th-3rd August|publisher =Mohr Siebeck|year =1998|page=439|chapter=A New Edition of Origen's Hexapla: How It Might Be Done|isbn =978-3-16-146575-8|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=9xQDu27_HEIC&q=metobelos&pg=PA439}}</ref> The system was further refined by his student [[Aristophanes of Byzantium]], who first introduced the [[asterisk]] and used a symbol resembling a {{char|⊤}} for an obelus; and finally by Aristophanes' student, in turn, [[Aristarchus of Samothrace|Aristarchus]], from whom they earned the name of "[[Aristarchian symbols]]".<ref name="wegner">{{cite book|author=Paul D. Wegner|title =A student's guide to textual criticism of the Bible|publisher =InterVarsity Press|year =2006|page=194|isbn =978-0-19-814747-3|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=SIMsY6b2n2gC&q=obelos&pg=PA192}}</ref><ref name="grube">{{cite book|author=George Maximilian Anthony Grube|title =The Greek and Roman critics|publisher =Hackett Publishing|year =1965|page=128|isbn =978-0-87220-310-5|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=jerucRW8UmMC&q=obelos&pg=PA128}}</ref>
While the asterisk (''asteriscus'') was used for corrective additions, the obelus was used for corrective deletions of invalid reconstructions.<ref name="BHS">{{cite book|title =A Simplified Guide to BHS|chapter =BHS Critical Apparatus|chapter-url =http://www.ericlevy.com/Revel/Cosmogony/Guide%20to%20BHS%20Critical%20Aparatus.PDF|access-date =2011-08-27|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110124183105/http://www.ericlevy.com/Revel/Cosmogony/Guide%20to%20BHS%20Critical%20Aparatus.PDF|archive-date =2011-01-24|url-status =live}}</ref> It was used when non-attested words are reconstructed for the sake of argument only, implying that the author did not believe such a word or word form had ever existed. Some scholars used the obelus and various other critical symbols, in conjunction with a second symbol known as the ''metobelos'' ("end of obelus"),<ref name="metobelus">{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07316a.htm|title=Hexapla|publisher=The Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=August 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904013754/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07316a.htm|archive-date=September 4, 2011|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}}</ref> variously represented as two vertically arranged dots, a {{char|γ}}-like symbol, a mallet-like symbol, or a diagonal slash (with or without one or two dots). They indicated the end of a marked passage.<ref name="wurth">{{cite book|author=Ernst Würthwein|title =The text of the Old Testament: an introduction to the Biblia Hebraica|publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|year =1995|page=58|isbn =978-0-8028-0788-5|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=FSNKSBObCYwC&q=metobelos&pg=PA58
It was used much in the same way by later scholars to mark differences between various translations or versions of the [[Bible]] and other manuscripts.<ref name="garrison">{{cite book|author= Daniel H. Garrison|title =The student's Catullus|year =2004|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|page=184|isbn =978-0-8061-3635-6|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=ESLZMFuTlDYC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PA184}}</ref> The [[early Christian]] [[Alexandria]]n scholar [[Origen]] (c. 184–253 AD) used it to indicate differences between different versions of the [[Old Testament]] in his ''[[Hexapla]]''.<ref name="wegner"/><ref name="metobelus"/><ref name="jones">{{cite book|author=R. Grant Jones|title=Notes on the Septuagint|year=2000|chapter=The Septuagint in Early Christian Writings|page=4|chapter-url=http://www.ixoyc.net/data/Fathers/531.pdf|access-date=2011-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813025341/http://ixoyc.net/data/Fathers/531.pdf|archive-date=2011-08-13|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] (c. 310–320 – 403) used both a horizontal slash or hook (with or without dots) and an upright and slightly slanting dagger to represent an obelus. [[Jerome|St. Jerome]] (c. 347–420) used a simple horizontal slash for an obelus, but only for passages in the Old Testament.
[[Isidore of Seville]] (c. 560–636) described the use of the symbol as follows: "The obelus is appended to words or phrases uselessly repeated, or else where the passage involves a false reading, so that, like the arrow, it lays low the superfluous and makes the errors disappear ... The obelus accompanied by points is used when we do not know whether a passage should be suppressed or not."<ref name="enc">{{cite book|author=Richard Barrie Dobson|title =Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Volume 2|publisher =Routledge|year =2000|page=1038|isbn =978-1-57958-282-1|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=om4olQhrE84C&q=obelus%20death&pg=PA1038}}</ref>
Medieval scribes used the symbols extensively for critical markings of manuscripts.
In the 16th century, the printer and scholar [[Robert Estienne]] (also known as Stephanus in [[Latin]] and Stephens in English) used it to mark differences in the words or passages between different printed versions of the Greek [[New Testament]] (''[[Textus Receptus]]'').<ref name="martin">{{cite book|author=David Martin (French divine)|title =A critical dissertation upon the seventh verse of the fifth chapter of St. John's First Epistle: there are three that bear record in Heaven, &c. : wherein the authentickness of this text is fully prov'd against the objections of Mr. Simon and the modern Arians|publisher =Printed for William and John Innys|chapter=Chap. X. Of the Obelus and Semicircle, the passage of St. John is mark'd with in Stephen's Edition|year =1719|page=65|chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=4tlbAAAAQAAJ&q=obelus&pg=PA65|author-link =David Martin (French divine)}}</ref>
Due to the variations as to the different uses of the different forms of the obelus, there is some controversy as to which symbols can actually be considered an obelus. The {{char|⨪}} symbol and its variant, the {{char|÷}}, is sometimes considered to be different from other obeli. The term 'obelus' may have referred strictly only to the horizontal slash and the dagger symbols.
== Modern usage ==
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