A Star Is Born

Physical examples of Aristarchus' asterisks have not survived, so we cannot know their physical shape, but as the word asterisk derives from the Greek asteriskos, meaning "Little star," an assumption has been made that they resembled a small star. Origen used the asterisk to demarcate texts that he had added to the Septuagint from the original Hebrew. In the medieval period the asterisk continued to be employed in the copying of Bibles to flag up text from other sources. The asterisk is also found in medieval texts as a sign of omission. The use of the asterisk by scribes copying the Bible continued with the advent of the printing press; early printed Bibles, such as Robert Estienne's 1532 Latin Bible, make use of an asterisk. The asterisk persisted as an editing mark but was also frequently used as a caveat, showing that the passage highlighted by the asterisk was served by a footnote or side note. In modern printed books the asterisk is most likely to show up as a method to mark footnotes.