View source for Dagger (mark)

{{Short description|Typographical mark indicating footnotes}}
{{Redirect|Double dagger}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|‡|ǂ|≠|キ|Half sharp}}
{{Redirect|†|other uses|Cross (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox symbol
|mark=† ‡ ⸸ ⹋
|name=Dagger
|other_names= obelisk, obelus
|unicode={{unichar|2020|dagger|html=}}<br />{{unichar|2021|double dagger|html=}}<br />{{unichar|2E38|TURNED DAGGER|html=}}<br />{{unichar|2E4B|triple dagger}}
|different from = {{unichar|271D|nlink=Latin cross}}<br />{{unichar|2628|nlink=Cross of Lorraine}}
}}
{{Special characters}}

A '''dagger''', '''obelisk''', or '''obelus''' {{serif|{{char|†}}}} is a [[glyph|typographical mark]] that usually indicates a [[footnote]] if an [[asterisk]] has already been used.<ref name="partridge" /> The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages).<ref>{{cite web |title=Catalogue of Life: 2019 Annual Checklist |publisher=[[Integrated Taxonomic Information System]] |url= https://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2019/info/hierarchy |date=2019}}</ref> It is one of the modern descendants of the [[obelus]], a mark used historically by scholars as a critical or highlighting indicator in manuscripts. In older texts, it is called an ''obelisk''.<ref>{{cite dictionary |dictionary = The Oxford English Dictionary (D{{ndash}}E |year=1933 |entry=Dagger (8) |page=[https://archive.org/details/the-oxford-english-dictionary-1933-all-volumes/The%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary%20Volume%203/page/n18/mode/1up 7]}}</ref>{{efn|The terms ''obelus'' and ''[[obelisk]]'' derive from the {{langx|grc|ὀβελίσκος}} (''{{transliteration|grc|obeliskos}}''), which means "little obelus"; from {{lang|grc|ὀβελός}} (''{{transliteration|grc|obelos}}'') meaning '[[roasting spit]]'.<ref name="Oxford">{{cite web |url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/obelus?region=us |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131002920/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/obelus?region=us |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 January 2013 |title=obelus |work=Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=April 2010}}</ref>}}

A '''double dagger''', or '''diesis''', {{char|‡}} is a variant with two [[hilt]]s and [[crossguard]]s that usually marks a third footnote after the asterisk and dagger.<ref name="H&F" /> The '''triple dagger''' {{char|⹋}} is a variant with three crossguards and is used by [[Medieval studies|medievalists]] to indicate another level of notation.<ref name="L215327">{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15327r-n4704-medieval-punct.pdf |title=Proposal to add Medievalist punctuation characters to the UCS |date=25 January 2016 |access-date=24 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215055421/http://unicode.org/L2/L2015/15327r-n4704-medieval-punct.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Obelus variants.svg|thumb|Three variants of obelus glyphs]]

The dagger symbol originated from a variant of the [[obelus]], originally depicted by a plain line {{char|−}} or a line with one or two dots {{char|÷}}.<ref name="merriamw">{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |date=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6/page/855 855] |isbn=9780877798095 |url= https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersc00merr_6 |url-access=registration |quote=obelos}}</ref> It represented an iron roasting spit, a dart, or the sharp end of a [[javelin]],<ref name="ainsw">{{cite book |editor-first=William Harrison |editor-last=Ainsworth |title=The New Monthly Magazine |publisher=Chapman and Hall |volume=125 |date=1862 |page=1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PycaAQAAIAAJ&q=obelos&pg=PA1 |via=Google Books}}</ref> symbolizing the skewering or cutting out of dubious matter.<ref name="scanlin" /><ref name="enc" /><ref name="hamann" />

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 |first=Harold P. |last=Scanlin |editor-first=Alison |editor-last=Salvesen |title=Origen's Hexapla and Fragments: Papers Presented at the Rich Seminar on the Hexapla, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, 25th July – 3rd August 1994 |series="Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism" series |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |date=1998 |page=439 |chapter=A New Edition of Origen's Hexapla: How It Might Be Done |isbn=9783161465758 |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 |first=Paul D. |last=Wegner |title=A Student's Guide to Textual Criticism of the Bible |publisher=InterVarsity Press |date=2006 |page=194 |isbn=9780198147473 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SIMsY6b2n2gC&q=obelos&pg=PA192 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="grube">{{cite book |first=George Maximilian Anthony |last=Grube |title=The Greek and Roman Critics |publisher=Hackett Publishing |date=1965 |page=128 |isbn=9780872203105 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jerucRW8UmMC&q=obelos&pg=PA128 |via=Google Books}}</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: Critical Apparatus, Masora, Accents, Unusual Letters & Other Markings |edition=3rd |first1=William R. |last1=Scott |last2=Rüger |first2=H. P. |chapter=BHS Critical Apparatus |location=North Richland Hills, Texas |publisher=Bibal Press |date=1995 |chapter-url= http://www.ericlevy.com/Revel/Cosmogony/Guide%20to%20BHS%20Critical%20Aparatus.PDF |access-date=27 August 2011 |url= https://archive.org/details/simplifiedguidet0000scot |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</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 |first=Kevin |last=Knight |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07316a.htm |title=Hexapla |work=The Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=New Advent LLC |access-date=27 August 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110904013754/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07316a.htm |archive-date=4 September 2011 |url-status=live}}</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 |first=Ernst |last=Würthwein |title=The Text of the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Biblia Hebraica |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |date=1995 |page=58 |isbn=9780802807885 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FSNKSBObCYwC&q=metobelos&pg=PA58}}</ref>

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 |first=Daniel H. |last=Garrison |title=The Student's Catullus |date=2004 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |page=184 |isbn=9780806136356 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ESLZMFuTlDYC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PA184 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The [[early Christian]] [[Alexandria]]n scholar [[Origen]] ({{circa|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 |first=R. Grant |last=Jones |title=Notes on the Septuagint |date=2000 |chapter=The Septuagint in Early Christian Writings |page=4 |chapter-url= http://www.ixoyc.net/data/Fathers/531.pdf |access-date=27 August 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110813025341/http://ixoyc.net/data/Fathers/531.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2011 |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.<ref name="smith&wace">{{cite book |editor1-first=William |editor1-last=Smith |editor2-first=Henry |editor2-last=Wace |title=A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines: During the First Eight Centuries – Being A Continuation of 'The Dictionary of the Bible' |volume=III: Hermogenes–Myensis |publisher=John Murray |date=1882 |url= https://archive.org/details/p1dictionaryofch03smituoft |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He describes the use of the asterisk and the dagger as: "an asterisk makes a light shine, the obelisk cuts and pierces".<ref name="hamann">{{cite book |first1=Johann Georg |last1=Hamann |first2=Kenneth |last2=Haynes |title =Writings on Philosophy and Language |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/writingsonphilos0000hama/page/94 94] |isbn=9780199202461 |url= https://archive.org/details/writingsonphilos0000hama |url-access=registration |quote=obelus dagger}}</ref>

[[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&nbsp;... 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 |first=Richard Barrie |last=Dobson |title=Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages |volume=2 |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |page=1038 |isbn=9781579582821 |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 addition to this, the dagger was also used in notations in early [[Christianity]], to indicate a minor intermediate pause in the [[chanting]] of [[Psalms]], equivalent to the [[quaver rest]] notation or the trope symbol in [[Hebrew cantillation]]. It also indicates a breath mark when reciting, along with the asterisk, and is thus frequently seen beside a [[comma]].<ref name="fenlon">{{cite book |editor-first=Iain |editor-last=Fenlon |first1=Kay |last1=Kaufman Shelemay |first2=Peter |last2=Jeffery |first3=Ingrid |last3=Monson |title=Early Music History: Studies in Medieval and Early Modern Music |date=1994 |chapter=Oral and written transmission in Ethiopian Christian Chant |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=81 |isbn=9780521451802 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Xt9FzmdCdskC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PA81}}</ref><ref name="seiyaku">{{cite web |url= http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/obelisk.html |title=Obelisk, Obelus, Dagger |work=Seiyaku.com |access-date=26 August 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110929075757/http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/crosses/obelisk.html |archive-date=29 September 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

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 |first=David |last=Martin |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=William and John Innys |chapter=X: Of the Obelus and Semicircle, the passage of St. John is mark'd with in Stephen's Edition |date=1719 |page=65 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4tlbAAAAQAAJ&q=obelus&pg=PA65 |author-link=David Martin (French theologian) |via=Google Books}}</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.{{cn|date=January 2023|reason=}}

== Modern usage ==
The dagger usually indicates a [[footnote]] if an asterisk has already been used.<ref name="partridge" /> A third footnote employs the double dagger.<ref name="H&F">{{cite web |url= http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=190 |last=Hoefler |first=Jonathan |title=House of Flying Reference Marks, or Quillon & Choil |publisher=Hoefler & Frere-Jones |date=4 June 2009 |author-link=Jonathan Hoefler |access-date=6 April 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100205102319/http://typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=190 |archive-date=5 February 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Additional footnotes are somewhat inconsistent and represented by a variety of symbols, e.g., [[vertical bar|parallels]] ( {{larger|‖}} ), [[section sign]] {{char|§}}, and the [[pilcrow]] {{char|¶}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Houston |first1=Keith |title=Shady Characters: The Secret Life Of Punctation, Symbols And Other Typographical |date=24 September 2013 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06442-1 |page=113 |language=en}}</ref> [[Superscript]] [[numeral system|numeral]]s have increasingly been used in modern literature in the place of these symbols because it results in a transparent and consistent order to the notes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bringhurst |first1=Robert |title=The Elements of Typographic Style |date=2004 |publisher=Hartley & Marks, Publishers |isbn=978-0-88179-205-8 |pages=66-67 |language=en}}</ref> Some texts use asterisks and daggers alongside superscripts, using the former for per-page footnotes and the latter for [[endnote]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Christian Writer's Manual of Style |date=11 May 2010 |publisher=Zondervan |isbn=978-0-310-86136-2 |language=en |chapter=Notes}}</ref>

The dagger is also used to indicate [[death]],<ref name="H&F" /><ref name="reynolds" /> [[extinction]],<ref name="tudge" /> or [[obsolescence]].<ref name="partridge">{{cite book |author-link=Eric Partridge |first=Eric |last=Partridge |title=You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies | orig-date=1953 | date=2004 | location=London | publisher=Routledge |page=235 |isbn=0-415-05075-8 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=OudW3l2IoPUC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PA235}}</ref><ref name="oedguide" /> The asterisk and the dagger, when placed beside years, indicate year of birth and year of death respectively.<ref name="H&F" /> This usage is particularly common in [[German language|German]].<ref>{{cite book |editor=Komitees des Vereins Herold [Editorial Committee of the Herold Association] |title=Genealogisches Handbuch bürgerlicher Familien |trans-title=Genealogical Handbook of Burgher families |volume=5 |language=de |date=1912 |orig-year=1897 |publisher=C. A. Starke |location=Görlitz |url= http://mbc.cyfrowemazowsze.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=3207 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170318085549/http://mbc.cyfrowemazowsze.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=3207 |archive-date=18 March 2017 |via=Mazowiecka Biblioteka Cyfrowa (Masovian Digital Library)}}</ref> When placed immediately before or after a person's name, the dagger indicates that the person is deceased.<ref name="H&F" /><ref name="knowles">{{cite book |first= Elizabeth |last=Knowles |title=Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199202461 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=r2KIvsLi-2kC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PT1104}}</ref><ref name="campbell">{{cite book |first=Alastair |last=Campbell |title=The Digital Designer's Jargon Buster |date=2004 |publisher=The Ilex Press |page=84 |isbn=9781904705352 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=URyQM0btTbIC&q=obelus%20dagger&pg=PT87}}</ref><ref name="lennard">{{cite book |editor-first=John |editor-last=Lennard |title=The Poetry Handbook: A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |page=140 |chapter=Punctuation |isbn=9780199265381 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=0eRtOqjNMxEC&q=obelus%20death&pg=PA140 |via=Google Books}}</ref> In this usage, it is referred to as the "death dagger".<ref name="aps">{{cite web |url= http://www.apsstylemanual.org/oldmanual/parts/authors.htm |title=Author Line |work=The APS Online Style Manual |access-date=26 August 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120331065709/http://www.apsstylemanual.org/oldmanual/parts/authors.htm |archive-date=31 March 2012 |url-status=dead |publisher=American Psychological Society}}</ref>  Death-related usages include:
*In [[biology]], the dagger next to a taxon name indicates that the [[taxon]] is [[Extinction|extinct]].<ref name="reynolds">{{cite book |first=John D. |last=Reynolds |title=Handbook of Fish Biology and Fisheries |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |date=2002 |page=108 |isbn=9780632054121 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=V0MWxaEaO00C&q=dagger%20symbol%20extinction&pg=PA108}}</ref><ref name="tudge">{{cite book |first=Colin |last=Tudge |title=The Variety of Life: A Survey and a Celebration of All the Creatures That Have Ever Lived |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2000 |page=93 |chapter=Conventions for Naming Taxa |isbn=9780198604266 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YW-2gnuU0L0C&q=dagger%20symbol%20extinction&pg=PA93 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="hull">{{cite book |first=David L. |last=Hull |title=Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1990 |page=[https://archive.org/details/scienceasprocess0000hull_i6q1/page/254 254] |isbn=9780226360515 |url = https://archive.org/details/scienceasprocess0000hull_i6q1 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |quote=dagger symbol extinction}}</ref>
*In [[chemistry]], the double dagger is used in chemical kinetics to indicate a short-lived [[transition state]] species.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muller |first=P. |date=1994-01-01 |title=Glossary of terms used in physical organic chemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1994) |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac199466051077/html |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |language=en |volume=66 |issue=5 |pages=1077–1184 |doi=10.1351/pac199466051077 |issn=1365-3075}}</ref>
*In [[genealogy]], the dagger is used traditionally to mark a death in genealogical records.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Tamura |title=Genealogy Symbols |url= https://www.tamurajones.net/GenealogySymbols.xhtml |website=Modern Software Experience |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307160900/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.tamurajones.net/GenealogySymbols.xhtml |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>
*In [[chess notation]], the dagger may be suffixed to a move to signify the move resulted in a check, and a double dagger denotes checkmate. This is a stylistic variation on the more common {{char|+}} ([[plus sign]]) for a check and {{char|#}} ([[number sign]]) for checkmate.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=Charlotte Boardman |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Play_Chess/h6lJAAAAIAAJ |title=How to Play Chess |publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. |year=1907 |location=New York}}</ref>
*In [[philology]], the dagger indicates an obsolete form of a word or phrase.<ref name="partridge" /> As language that has become obsolete in everyday use tends to live on elsewhere, the dagger can indicate language only occurring in poetical texts<ref>{{Cite book| first=John R. Clark | last=Hall | author-link=John Richard Clark Hall | title=A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary for the Use of Students | edition=2nd | location=New York | publisher=Macmillan | year=1916 | pages=vi, vii | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/31543/pg31543-images.html | via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> or "restricted to an archaic, literary style".<ref>{{Cite book | first=Michael Alan | last=Jones | title=Foundations of French Syntax | series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1996 | isbn=0-521-38104-5 | page=xxv}}</ref>
* In the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the dagger symbol indicates an obsolete word.<ref name="oedguide">{{cite web |url= http://www.oed.com/public/oed3guide |title=Guide to the Third Edition of the OED |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=26 August 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110830221219/http://www.oed.com/public/oed3guide |archive-date=30 August 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Non-death usages include:
*The asteroid [[37 Fides]], the last asteroid to be assigned an [[Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbol]] before the practice faded, was assigned the dagger.<ref name="astunicode">{{cite web |last1=Bala |first1=Gavin Jared |last2=Miller |first2=Kirk |date=18 September 2023 |title=Unicode request for historical asteroid symbols |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2023/23207-historical-asteroids.pdf |access-date=26 September 2023 |website=unicode.org |publisher=Unicode |quote=}}</ref>
*In [[Anglican chant]] pointing, the dagger indicates a verse to be sung to the second part of the chant.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wyton |first1=Alec |title=Anglican Chant Psalter |date=1987 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-0-89869-685-1 |pages=vi |language=en}}</ref>
*In library [[Cataloging (library science)|cataloging]], a double dagger delimits [[MARC standards|MARC]] subfields.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding MARC Bibliographic: Parts 1 to 6 |url=https://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/um01to06.html |access-date=2025-09-08 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref>
*On a [[cricket]] scorecard or team list, the dagger indicates the team's [[wicket-keeper]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc2007/engine/match/247499.html |title=Cricket Scorecard: 43rd Match, Super Eights: Australia v Sri Lanka at St George's |date=16 April 2007 |publisher=[[ESPN]] Cricinfo |access-date=19 March 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150404162555/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wc2007/engine/match/247499.html |archive-date=4 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>
*In [[mathematics]] and, more often, [[physics]], a dagger denotes the [[Hermitian adjoint]] of an operator; for example, ''A''<sup>†</sup> denotes the adjoint of ''A''. This notation is sometimes replaced with an asterisk, especially in mathematics. An operator is said to be Hermitian if ''A''<sup>†</sup> = ''A''.<ref>{{MathWorld|title=Dagger|urlname=Dagger}}</ref>
*In [[textual criticism]] and in some editions of works written before the invention of printing, daggers enclose text that is believed not to be original.<ref name="wegner" />
{{clear left}}
[[Image:Daggers.svg|left|thumb|600px|Dagger and double-dagger symbols in a variety of [[font]]s, showing the differences between stylized and non-stylized characters. Fonts from left to right: [[DejaVu Sans]], [[Times New Roman]], [[LTC Remington Typewriter]], [[Garamond]], and [[Old English Text MT]]]]
{{clear left}}

==Unicode <span class="anchor" id="Encoding"></span>==
*{{unichar|2020|DAGGER}}
*{{unichar|2021|DOUBLE DAGGER}}
*{{unichar|2E36|DAGGER WITH LEFT GUARD}} – used in [[Alexander John Ellis]]'s "palaeotype" transliteration to indicate retracted pronunciation<ref name="L209425">{{Cite web |url= https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09425-n3740-turnedpunct.pdf |title=L2/09-425: Proposal to encode six punctuation characters in the UCS |date=5 December 2009 |first=Michael |last=Everson |access-date=24 March 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160407035642/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09425-n3740-turnedpunct.pdf |archive-date=7 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
*{{unichar|2E37|DAGGER WITH RIGHT GUARD}} – used in Alexander John Ellis's "palaeotype" transliteration to indicate advanced pronunciation<ref name="L209425" />
*{{unichar|2E38|TURNED DAGGER}} – used in Alexander John Ellis's "palaeotype" transliteration to indicate retroflex pronunciation<ref name="L209425" />
*{{unichar|2E4B|TRIPLE DAGGER}} – A variant with three handles.<ref name="L215327" />[[File:Triple Dagger.png|thumb|A variant with three handles|50px]]

==Visually similar symbols==
The dagger should not be confused with the symbols {{unichar|271D|Latin cross|nlink=}}, {{unichar|253C|box drawings light vertical and horizontal|nlink=Box drawing characters}}, or [[Cultural, political, and religious symbols in Unicode|other cross symbols]].

The double dagger should not be confused with the {{unichar|2628|Cross of Lorraine|nlink=}}, or {{unichar|2626|Orthodox cross|nlink=}}, or {{unichar|01C2|Latin Letter Alveolar Click|nlink=palatal click}} in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]], or {{unichar|167E|Canadian syllabics Woods-Cree Final Th |nlink=Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics}}.

==See also==
* {{Annotated link |Annotation}}
* {{Annotated link |Marginalia}}
* {{Annotated link |Textual criticism}}
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{navbox punctuation}}

[[Category:Punctuation]]
[[Category:Typographical symbols]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek punctuation]]