Plural of footnote; small explanatory comments, citations, or references placed at the bottom of a page in written texts.
From foot (bottom of page) + notes (explanatory remarks). The practice developed during the printing press era as a way to separate main text from supplementary information without disrupting reading flow.
Footnotes are where authors secretly argue with each other—whole academic feuds have played out in the footnotes of books, with scholars using them to say 'actually, my rival got this completely wrong' without interrupting their formal argument.
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