OBS. 9.—­The words eroteme and ecphoneme, which, like aposteme and philosopheme, are orderly derivatives from Greek roots[460], I have ventured to suggest as fitter names for the two marks to which they are applied as above, than are any of the long catalogue which other grammarians, each choosing for himself have presented.  These marks have not unfrequently been called “the interrogation and the exclamation;” which names are not very suitable, because they have other uses in grammar.  According to Dr. Blair, as well as L. Murray and others, interrogation and exclamation are “passionate figures” of rhetoric, and oftentimes also plain “unfigured” expressions.  The former however are frequently and more fitly called by their Greek names erotesis and ecphonesis, terms to which those above have a happy correspondence.  By Dr. Webster and some others, all interjections are called “exclamations;” and, as each of these is usually followed by the mark of emotion, it cannot but be inconvenient to call both by the same name.

OBS. 10.—­For things so common as the marks of asking and exclaiming, it is desirable to have simple and appropriate names, or at least some settled mode of denomination; but, it is remarkable, that Lindley Murray, in mentioning these characters six times, uses six different modes of expression, and all of them complex:  (1.) “Notes of Interrogation and Exclamation.” (2.) “The point of Interrogation,?”—­“The point of Exclamation,!” (3.) “The Interrogatory Point.”—­“The Exclamatory Point.” (4.) “A note of interrogation,”—­“The note of exclamation.” (5.) “The interrogation and exclamation points.” (6.) “The points of Interrogation and Exclamation.”—­Murray, Flint, Ingersoll, Alden, Pond.  With much better taste, some writers denote them uniformly thus:  (7.) “The Note of Interrogation,”—­“The Note of Exclamation.”—­Churchill, Hiley.  In addition to these names, all of which are too long, there may be cited many others, though none that are unobjectionable:  (8.) “The Interrogative sign,”—­“The Exclamatory sign.”—­Peirce, Hazen. (9.) “The Mark of Interrogation,”—­“The Mark of Exclamation.”—­Ward, Felton, Hendrick. (10.) “The Interrogative point,”—­“The Exclamation point.”—­T.  Smith, Alger. (11.) “The interrogation point,”—­“The exclamation point.”—­Webster, St. Quentin, S. Putnam. (12.) “A Note of Interrogation,”—­“A Note of Admiration.”—­Coar, Nutting. (13.) “The Interrogative point,”—­“The Note of Admiration, or of vocation.”—­Bucke. (14.) “Interrogation (?),”—­“Admiration (!) or Exclamation.”—­Lennie, Bullions. (15.) “A Point of Interrogation,”—­“A Point of Admiration or Exclamation.”—­Buchanan. (16.) “The Interrogation Point (?),”—­“The Admiration Point (!).”—­Perley. (17.) “An interrogation (?),”—­“An exclamation (!).”—­Cutler. (18.) “The interrogator?”—­“The exclaimor!”—­Day’s Gram., p. 112. [The putting of “exclaimor” for exclaimer, like this author’s changing of quoters to “quotors,” as a name for the guillemets, is probably a mere sample of ignorance.] (19.) “Question point,”—­“Exclamation point.”—­Sanborn, p. 272.