When Was the Question Mark Invented?

The rhetorical question mark or percontation point (see Irony punctuation) was invented by Henry Denham in the 1580s and was used at the end of a rhetorical question; however, it became obsolete in the 17th century.

Where does the question mark originate from?

Supposedly, in the Middle Ages scholars would write 'quaestio' at the end of a sentence to show that it was a question, which in turn was shortened to qo. Eventually, the q was written on top of the o, before steadily morphing into a recognisably modern question mark.

What language invented the question mark?

The story goes that the question mark actually originated from the Latin word qvaestio, meaning question. This word was reportedly abbreviated in the Middle Ages by scholars as just qo. Eventually, a capital “Q” was written over the “o”, and it formed one letter.