Etymograph

English

comma

Comma comes from Latin comma ‘a comma’, from Ancient Greek κόμμα ‘stamp or impression of a coin’, and ultimately from Proto-Hellenic *kopt͏̌ō.

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kopt͏̌ō1reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόπτω1kóptō‘to cut’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόμμα1kómma‘stamp or impression of a coin’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomma1‘a comma’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1828comma1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English comma
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, Richard Thomson, Illustrations of the History of Great Britain: “No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kopt͏̌ōWiktionary, English commareconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόπτωWiktionary, English commakóptō‘to cut’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκόμμαWiktionary, English commakómma‘stamp or impression of a coin’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommaWiktionary, English comma‘a comma’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1828commaWiktionary, English comma. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, Richard Thomson, Illustrations of the History of Great Britain: “No points were used by the ancient printers, excepting…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep-

shape, scoop, 3 more

through Ancient Greek κόπτω ‘to cut’

syncope, 8 more

Today it means

noun The punctuation mark ⟨,⟩ used to indicate a set of parts of a sentence or between elements of a list.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “comma”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Hellenic *kopt͏̌ō / comma

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