A dele or deleatur (, ) is an

obelism Obelism is the practice of annotating manuscripts with marks set in the margins. Modern obelisms are used by editors when proofreading a manuscript or typescript. Examples are "stet" (which is Latin for "Let it stand", used in this context to m ...

proofreading Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corr ...

symbol) used to mark something for deletion.

Name

''Dele'', the more common term in modern American

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

(sometimes used as a verb, e.g. "Dele that

graf (; feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility and later also of the Russian nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title ...

"), coincides with the imperative form of the Latin ''delere'' ("to delete"). However, the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

notes an earlier use in English of ''deleatur'' (Latin "let it be deleted"), and suggests that ''dele'' in English may have been an

abbreviation An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...

for the longer word.

Origin

The origin of the symbol appears to be an archaic letter D in the

Kurrent () is an old form of German-language handwriting based on late medieval cursive writing, also known as ("cursive script"), ("German script"), and ''German cursive''. Over the history of its use into the first part of the 20th century, many ...

script, as an abbreviation for ''dele'' or ''deleatur''. It is markedly similar (if not identical in some cases) to the symbol for the German penny () which is an archaic lowercase d, for ''

denarius The ''denarius'' (; : ''dēnāriī'', ) was the standard Ancient Rome, Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the ''antoninianus''. It cont ...

''. As with most hand-written letters and symbols, its appearance is variable.

Computer representation

There is no character for the dele symbol in

Unicode Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...

as of version 15.0 from September 2022, although its addition has been proposed. The visually similar character for

Pfennig The pfennig (; . 'pfennigs' or 'pfennige' ; currency symbol, symbol pf or ₰) or penny is a former Germany, German coin or note, which was an official currency from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002. While a valua ...

at from the

Currency Symbols A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned. A symbol may be positioned in various ways, acc ...

block is often used to represent a dele in Unicode. The same Unicode character is also used for a completely different

flourish of approval A flourish of approval or ''krul'' ("curl") is a mostly Dutch symbol used for grading schoolwork or to show that one has seen and agreed with a paragraph. The ''krul'' first appeared in the early 19th century together with the rising bureaucracy in ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Usage

The dele is used in

and

copy editing Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. '' The C ...

, where it may be written over the selected text itself (such that it often resembles a stretched cursive e), or in the margin alongside the selected text, which is usually struck through with a line. The stricken text or the dele itself may be framed by top and bottom curved brackets, as in the above example, to indicate that the space left after deletion is to be closed up. As the need for such closing up can usually be inferred by context, however, the brackets are often omitted. A dele can be undone with a stet.

References

{{reflist

External links

List of proofreading marks
Copy editing