Where does “bell character” come from?
bell character (English) comes from English character, from Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ, from Ancient Greek χαράσσω, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰer- — to yearn for; to enclose; bowels, intestines.
bell character (English): A control character with the value seven (Unicode code point U+0007, ASCII 0x07), originally used to ring a bell on telegraphy equipment to alert the operator to an incoming message; on modern computers, it generally causes a beep or buzzer to sound when printed to a terminal window, or, as a silent
Definitions
- A control character with the value seven (Unicode code point U+0007, ASCII 0x07), originally used to ring a bell on telegraphy equipment to alert the operator to an incoming message; on modern computers, it generally causes a beep or buzzer to sound when printed to a terminal window, or, as a silent
Ancestry of “bell character”, step by step
bell character traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English character
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | character | A being involved in the action of a story; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | caracter | — |
| 3 | Old French | caractere | mark; sign; indication |
| 4 | Latin | character | branding iron; brand; characteristic, mark,... |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | χαρακτήρ | instrument used for engraving; person who... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | χαράσσω | to sharpen; to engrave, carve, write, draw, stamp |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰer- | to yearn for; to enclose; bowels, intestines |