[oXygen-user] Re: Eth when splitting elements

[David Kastrup]

"Theun Fleer" <>
writes:

> Why do I get a "Latin small Eth" (ð or &#240; or &#xf0;) when pressing
> Ctrl+Alt+D in order to split the current element? The elements splits
> all right (eg </p><p>) but this "eth" is inserted after this
> (</p><p>ð).  As far as I know I did not assign a keyboard shortcut to
> this character...
>
> Off-topic: what kind of character is this eth, by the way? Who uses
> it, and when? :-)

It basically is derived from an old rune and is still used in
Icelandic.  Of course, you'll also need it to transcribe Old English
texts such as

    Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,
    þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
    hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.
    [...]

and other stuff with North Germanic focus.  Principally, it is a soft th
as in "though".  But in Old English, þ and ð are often used
interchangeably.

Why oxygen decides to make you a present of this letter: no idea.  0xf0
is a prefix byte for 4-byte utf-8 sequences.  Maybe it is in this
function that it manages to make it through the defenses.

-- 
David Kastrup