Dele
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218524303
2008-06-11T00:53:37Z
Neelix
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Broadened other use link
{{otheruses}}
[[Image:Deleatur.png|right|96px|A dele.]]
A '''dele''' or '''deleatur''' ({{pronEng|ˈdiːliː}}, {{IPA|/ˌdiːliːˈeɪtɚ/}}) is a [[proofreading]] [[symbol]] used to mark something for deletion.
==Name==
''Dele'' is the more common term in modern American [[English language|English]], likely coming from the imperative form of the Latin ''delere'' ("to delete"), and can also be used as a verb, e.g. "Dele that [[paragraph|graph]]." The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] notes, however, that ''dele'' as an English word may instead have arisen as an abbreviation for the older word ''deleatur'' (lit. "let it be deleted"), and in [[German language|German]] and [[French language|French]], for example, ''deleatur'' is still the word for this symbol.
==Origin==
The origin of the symbol appears to be an archaic letter [[d]], as an abbreviation for ''dele'' or ''deleatur'', though it bears little resemblance to a modern d. Compare the markedly similar (if not identical in some cases) symbol [[Image:Symbol.Pfennig.png|11px|pfennig symbol]] for the [[Pfennig|German penny]], which is also an archaic d (for ''[[denarius]]''). As with most hand-written letters and symbols, its appearance is rather variable.
==Usage==
[[Image:Sample proof.png|frame|left|A section of proofread text, with a dele in the left margin indicating the stricken text ("and other,") is to be deleted. (The marks in the right margin mean, from left to right and top to bottom: replace stricken hyphen with one [[en dash]]; insert semicolon; insert comma; and transpose circled text.)]]The dele is used in proofreading and [[copy editing]], 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 this 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]].
==External links==
*[http://www.ideography.co.uk/proof/marks.html List of proofreading marks]
[[Category:Copy editing]]
[[de:Deleatur]]
[[fr:Éditions Deleatur]]
[[nl:Deleatur]]
[[pl:Deleatur]]