The '#' symbol has many names, but hash is the one that confuses me. I know the etymology of the word 'hash', but how did it become associated with that character?
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So my understanding is that you want to know how this # symbol came to be given the word "hash".
The word "hash" is derived from the French "hache".
hache, from Old French, past participle of hacher, hachier, to chop up, from hache, axe, of Germanic origin; see hatchet
American Heritage Dictionary
So how does the # sign relate to cutting or chopping up?
Hatching (hachure in French) is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing (or painting or scribing) closely spaced parallel lines.
Hatching Wikipedia article
Example of hatching:
There's a resemblance between this artistic technique and #, that's my guess anyway.
Additional info:
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it is generally called a hash (probably ultimately from "hatch", referring to cross-hatching, although the exact derivation is disputed).
Origin and Names of Hash Sign, Wikipedia
"cross-hatching" here meaning the art technique I mentioned before.
Furthermore, from a blog:
Several online sources claim that hash came from "hatch", as in the cross hatching artists use when drawing. Except, the only place I find this is in these claims. They cite no additional sources, and I have found no additional sources. I've only seen this as a just-so story presented to fill that vacuum.
Link
And to confuse things, from that same blog, is found this from a google search:
So there's also the possibility that it's so named because the older version used to look like an 'H'.
Furthermore the hash sign Wikipedia article says that the '#' symbol could come from a symbol originally looking like this ℔ meaning some type of pound measure, and that over time:
Ultimately, the symbol was reduced for clarity as an overlay of two horizontal strokes "=" across two slash-like strokes "//".
The original source for this claim is the book: The Ancient Roots of Punctuation
So there you go, many explanations at odds with each other. You really opened a can.
Mari-Lou A
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Zebrafish
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"You really opened a can." ---> Yeah, I could sort of tell just from what came up when I was googling it....are we, like, breaking fresh ground here in etymological archaeology? Are there no definitive sources on this? Good answer though. – temporary_user_name Mar 24 '18 at 07:35
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@Aerovistae I doubt mere mortals like us are breaking any ground. Any idea you have is likely to have been had by someone else, there are 7.5 billion people in the world and over 100 billion people who have lived. This makes me feel small. Sorry drag down the mood. – Zebrafish Mar 24 '18 at 07:51
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@Aerovistae - The relationship of the symbol "hash" to chopped-up meat is something that's intuitively obvious to even tech-illiterate folks. You never see it explained because it hasn't needed explaining. – Hot Licks Mar 24 '18 at 12:15
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@Mari-LouA I distinctly remember the OP mentioning they knew that hash was etymologically derived from French hache. I can't find it in the comments so it's possible it was deleted or edited out of the comment. Pretty sure I didn't dream it up. – Zebrafish Mar 24 '18 at 13:16
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@Mari-LouA Also there was another answer which addressed the origin of hash with respect to social media hashtags. I assume that question was deleted once the OP made it clear what they were asking. That's when I wrote my answer. Though, it doesn't seem so clear anymore, as I said, I'm not sure if it was a deleted or edited comment. – Zebrafish Mar 24 '18 at 13:18
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I'm not questioning your mental faculties, just pointing out that your statement doesn't match the OP. @lawrence deleted their answer when the OP edited the question. – Mari-Lou A Mar 24 '18 at 13:20
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You would do better to copy and paste this fine answer in the older question whose link I posted beneath the OP. – Mari-Lou A Mar 24 '18 at 13:22
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@Mari-LouA Sorry I don't understand. You've given one link "Possible duplicate: What Is the Real Name of the #", and then two links to another two questions. You mean paste this answer into one of the others? Wouldn't that mean that the same answer is in multiple threads? Is that allowed? I don't even think this answers those questions. By all means if you have the privileges, do whatever you feel is best, because I'm kind of new and don't understand. – Zebrafish Mar 24 '18 at 13:40
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@Zebrafish - I can't figure out what you're ranting about. You were as confused as everyone else when the question was posted. Apparently the OP was under the mistaken impression that "#" was called "hashtag" (a mistake made fairly often by those unfamiliar with the traditional English character set). Folks have called "#" "hash" or "hash mark" since the 70s, if not before, well before the advent of social networking. – Hot Licks Mar 24 '18 at 21:19
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@Hot Licks You're right, I WAS as confused as everyone else. Let me reiterate the substance of my 'ranting'. There was a clarification made at a point (it must have been in the comments), because it no longer exists, when it became totally clear to me what the OP was asking, because they had clarified exactly what they wanted to know. It went something like (paraphrasing) "I know the word "hash" comes from the French "hache" but why do we call the # symbol "hash"?" So that's when I tried to track down why "chopping up" was used to describe #.Track down the comment and vindicate me if you like. – Zebrafish Mar 25 '18 at 02:58
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@Zebrafish - But I seriously doubt that "hash" in this sense was adopted from French drawing rather than coming from English cooking. "Hash" is a very familiar term in English. – Hot Licks Mar 25 '18 at 03:07
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@Zebrafish Maybe, all I know is I spent a while looking it up and got many suggestions of cross-hatching, one for the ℔ roman pound story, and the picture that shows the "hash" looking like an "H", along with two places that claim that the origin is disputed. Maybe I wasn't hungry enough to see clear. Though, if someone is truly compelled to, they can read The Ancient Roots of Punctuation. The idea gets me all giddy with excitement. – Zebrafish Mar 25 '18 at 03:19
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@Zebrafish - Assume you're a cook. Someone shows you an image of an octothorpe, and you've never seen this symbol before. What do you suppose it suggests to you? – Hot Licks Mar 25 '18 at 03:22
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@Hot Licks If I were a cook holding a chopping knife everything would look like it needed chopping. Honestly, I can't tell. I've fallen victim to false etymology often enough to know that etymology is HARD, and stories very often seem plausible. I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't know. – Zebrafish Mar 25 '18 at 03:29
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@Zebrafish - I think you want the origin to be elegant (ie, French). In fact, the use of "hash" in English goes back to 1798, at least. – Hot Licks Mar 25 '18 at 13:11
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This is hash (of the non-drug kind):
The first step in the preparation of hash is to slice the component meats and vegetables into small cubes, often accomplished by simply slicing one direction, then the other, kind of like this:
This slicing action (literal or figurative) is often referred to as "making a hash".
This figurative sense can be seen in this quote from 1798:
they were, in reality, nothing but a crude hash of tyranny and licentiousness
But note that the term "hash" or "hash mark" has been used for a century, at least, to refer to stripes on military uniforms, to markings on a sports field, or to the marks on the traditional jailhouse calendar:
The term may also be used by, e.g, a carpenter to refer to a pencil mark on a board.
Hot Licks
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I get the 'tag' part, since it's tagging a piece of data, but why is it called a 'hash'?– temporary_user_name Mar 24 '18 at 03:18#! I don't know of any languages where they're interrelated! – temporary_user_name Mar 24 '18 at 06:36