The Collaborative International Dictionary
octothorp \oc"to*thorp\, octothorpe \oc"to*thorpe\, n. [octo- eight + thorp Etymology of thorp uncertain. (ca. 1965). See quote below. Possibly derived from octalthorpe or octotherp (once used by the Bell System?).] A typographic symbol (#) having two vertical lines intersected by two horizontal lines. It is also called the crosshatch, hash, numeral sign and number sign; in the U. S. it is commonly called the pound sign, especially to designate the symbol as used on digital telephone dials, but this can be confusing to Europeans who think of the pound sign as the symbol for the British pound. It is commonly used as a symbol for the word number; as in #36 (meaning: number thirty-six).
octothorp
Otherwise known as the numeral sign. It has also been
used as a symbol for the pound avoirdupois, but this
usage is now archaic. In cartography, it is also a
symbol for village: eight fields around a central
square, and this is the source of its name. Octothorp
means eight fields.
--Robert
Bringhurst
(The Elements
of Typographic
Style (2d
edition,
1996), Hartley
& Marks,
Publishers,
Point Roberts,
WA; Vancouver,
BC, Canada, p.
282)
Usage examples of "numeral sign".
That's to say, it was not based on the specific sounds of the Sumerian language, and it could have been pronounced with entirely different sounds to yield the same meaning in any other languagejust as the numeral sign 4 is variously pronounced four, chetwtre, neljd, and empat by speakers of English, Russian, Finnish, and Indonesian, respectively.
That's to say, it was not based on the specific sounds of the Sumerian language, and it could have been pronounced with entirely different sounds to yield the same meaning in any other language--just as the numeral sign 4 is variously pronounced four, chetwire, neljd, and empat by speakers of English, Russian, Finnish, and Indonesian, respectively.