The etymology of the exclamation mark, according to the brilliant, amateur classicists, Alexander & Nicholas Humez in their book ABC et Cetera goes like this:
“…the exclamation point—a.k.a., ‘screamer’ or ‘bang’— is derived either from an abbreviation of Latin interiectiō (interjection) or else from the interjection Iō! (‘Hey!’).”
The morphology of the exclamation, as with the question mark, appears to boil down to the convenience of abbreviation. Medieval scribes stacked the i above the o, the o became a point, and thus evolved this indispensable, energetic punctuation mark.
Note: Avoid overuse.
August 4, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Eureka!
Answers.com says “screamer” is slang for exclamation point. I must hang out with the wrong crowd.
August 4, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Bang is more common, in my experience, for example, PostScript code always begins with %!PS, which, in the publishing industry, is pronounced percent-bang-p-s.
August 4, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Interesting etymology indeed. But now that you’ve covered the basics of certain punctuationary evolution, you must provide your readers with your take on Martin K. Speckter’s Interrobang.
August 5, 2007 at 9:11 am
I remain unconvinced that the interrobang has legs. It was a nice idea, but it has struggled along for years, unadopted by the public, and orphaned by typographers.