A typographical symbol (*) resembling a clenched fist, used in printing and manuscripts to mark references or annotations.
From fist, because the asterisk or pointing hand symbol resembles a closed fist, plus note meaning 'a mark or annotation.' This term is primarily used in historical printing and manuscript studies.
Old manuscripts used little fist-shaped symbols called 'fistnotes' or 'manicules' to point at important passages—they're like the ancient version of highlighters and emoji pointing fingers!
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