A
typographic symbol and
HTML entity, the dagger, like the
double dagger, was originally intended as a
reference mark for
footnoting. In European typography, the dagger is commonly used as a sign of
mortality to mark the death of, or names of
dead people. In
Lexicography, daggers are used to mark
obsolete forms. For the editing of
classical texts, the dagger is used to mark passages judged to be
corrupt.*
To create a dagger with HTML, you can use any one of the following:
- † (†)
- † (†)
- † (†)
Unfortunately, there can not be a † (†) node on E2 because the
‡ (‡) node was created first. Since these two symbols are only distinguished by case, the
double dagger node prevents the creation of the named entity † node. However, both numeric methods of creating a † node will work. Which of these nodes should be the official † node?
† or
†
Other names for the dagger are
obelisk,
obelus or
long cross.
* portions from
The Elements of Typographic Style by
Robert Bringhurst