Angzarr
The angzarr (⍼) is an obscure typographical symbol representing azimuth,[1][2] which gained notoriety during a search for its lost meaning in the 2020s.[3][4][5] The name is from an abbreviation of its ISO 9573-13 name, "Angle with Down Zig-zag Arrow",[6] also reflected in its Unicode name, "Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow". Its HTML entity reference, originally defined in ISO 9573-13 for use in SGML, is ⍼.[6] It has been included in Unicode since version 3.2. HistoryThe symbol ⍼ can be found in H. Berthold AG symbol catalogs published some time in the 1950s and 1960s, where it is described as a mathematical symbol for "Azimut, Richtungswinkel".[1][2] Herrman Holmqvist also describes the symbol as Riktningsvinkel (azimuth) in Swedish in a book about symbols published in 1964.[7][8] It is also found in a 1963 Monotype typeset catalog of arrow characters;[9][10] it does not appear in an earlier 1954 edition of the same catalog.[10][11] Monotype listed the symbol as matrix serial number S9576.[9][10][12] A later 1972 Monotype catalog, for mathematical characters, listed it under another serial number, S16139;[13][14] the reason for the redundant serial number is unclear.[10] It is unknown why Monotype added the character, or what purpose it was intended to serve,[15][14] although much of Monotype's character repertoire for movable type originated from customer requests, including corporate logos.[10] In 1988, the International Organization for Standardization added the symbol to its Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) definition, apparently pulling it from the Monotype character set.[16] The STIX Fonts project adopted the Angzarr symbol from the ISO's SGML characters.[17] In March 2000, the Angzarr symbol reached wide distribution when the Unicode Technical Committee, in collaboration with the STIX project, proposed adding it to ISO/IEC 10646, the ISO standard with which the Unicode Standard is synchronised. The Angzarr was proposed in the ISO working-group document Proposal for Encoding Additional Mathematical Symbols, although no specific purpose is listed for the symbol.[18] The lack of meaning associated with the Angzarr symbol gained notoriety in 2022 when a blog post was published on its unknown origins.[3][4][5] The blog was updated in 2023, confirming the appearance of Angzarr in a 1972 Monotype typeset catalogue with a scan of the page,[14][19] and in 2024, confirming its appearance in earlier Monotype catalogues.[10] See also
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