What is "tittle"

Tittle \Tit"tle\, n. [OE. titel, titil, apparently a dim. of tit, in the sense of small; cf. G. t["u]ttel a tittle, dim. of OHG. tutta teat. Perhaps, however, the same word as title, n.] A particle; a minute part; a jot; an iota.

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
--Luke xvi. 17.

Every tittle of this prophecy is most exactly verified.
--South.

late 14c., "small stroke or point in writing" (Wyclif, in Matt. v:18), translating Latin apex in Late Latin sense of "accent mark over a vowel," which itself translates Greek keraia (literally "a little horn"), used by the Greek grammarians of the accents and diacritical points, in this case a Biblical translation of Hebrew qots, literally "thorn, prick," used of the little lines and projections by which the Hebrew letters of similar form differ from one another.\n

\nWyclif's word is borrowed from a specialized sense of Latin titulus (see title (n.)), which was used in Medieval Latin (and in Middle English and Old French) to indicate "a stroke over an abridged word to indicate letters missing" (and compare Provençal titule "the dot over -i-").\n\n"As apex was used by the Latin grammarians for the accent or mark over a long vowel, titulus and apex became to some extent synonymous; hence Wyclif's use of titil, titel to render L. apex"

[OED]

n. 1 A small, insignificant amount (of something); a vanishing scintilla; a measly crumb; a minute speck. 2 Any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or if a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters (term: i) and (term: j).

n. a tiny or scarcely detectable amount [syn: shred, scintilla, whit, iota, smidgen, smidgeon, smidgin, smidge]

A tittle or superscript dot is a small distinguishing mark, such as a diacritic or the dot on a lowercase i or j. The tittle is an integral part of the glyph of i and j, but diacritic dots can appear over other letters in various languages. In most languages, the tittle of i or j is omitted when a diacritic is placed in the tittle's usual position (as í or ĵ), but not when the diacritic appears elsewhere (as į, ɉ).

The word tittle is rarely used. Its most prominent occurrence is in the Christian Bible at Matthew 5:18: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" ( KJV). The quotation uses them as an example of extremely minor details. The phrase "jot and tittle" indicates that every small detail has received attention.

In the Greek original translated as English "jot and tittle" are found the words iota and keraia . Iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (ι). Alternatively, it may represent yodh (י), the smallest letter of the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets. "Keraia" is a hook or serif, possibly referring to other Greek diacritics, or possibly to the hooks on Hebrew letters (ב) versus (כ) or cursive scripts for languages derived from Aramaic, such as Syriac, written in Serṭā (ܣܶܪܛܳܐ, 'short line'), or for adding explicit vowel marks such as crowns (e.g. the Vulgate apex) known as Niqqud that developed with later scribal practices in the Torah. A keraia is also used in printing modern Greek numerals. In many abjads only consonants such as yodh in Hebrew have character forms; a word's phonetic pronunciation depends on unwritten or indistinct vowel markings such that many meanings can be rendered ambiguous or corrupted via oral transmission over time.

Tittle is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Ian Tittle (born 1973), West Indian cricket player
• Minnie Tittle (1875–1974) American actress, better known under her stage name of Minnie Tittell Brune
• Nick Tittle (born 1987) American permaculture designer and teacher
• Steve Tittle (born 1935), Canadian composer and teacher
• Y. A. Tittle (born 1926), former American football quarterback