The History and Origin of the Apostrophe

Khan Academy

This educational video explores the fascinating history and etymology of the apostrophe, tracing its journey from a Greek rhetorical device to a common English punctuation mark. The narrators explain the word's Greek roots meaning "turning away" and how it originally described a figure of speech where a speaker addresses an absent person or inanimate object. The video then moves into the historical introduction of the symbol itself, credited to the French humanist Geoffroy Tory in the 16th century. It explains how the mark was used to indicate omitted letters (elision) in French before migrating to the English language following centuries of French linguistic influence after the Norman Conquest. Teachers can use this video to deepen student understanding of punctuation by providing historical context, making grammar rules feel less arbitrary. It connects English Language Arts with history and foreign languages, demonstrating how English has evolved through cultural exchange and offering a logical explanation for why apostrophes are used in contractions to replace missing letters.