[TUHS] Slashes

[Adam Sampson]

norman at oclsc.org (Norman Wilson) writes:

> It's unclear exactly how far back it dates.  The earliest OED citation
> for `slash' as `A thin sloping line, thus /' is dated 1961; but the
> cite is from Webster's 3rd.

A bit of searching finds earlier American examples in the context of
livestock brands. For example, from "Hot Irons: Heraldry of the Range",
1940:

  A crude sign at a dirt turnoff will have been "painted" with a hot
  iron, reading V-/ 8.

  You may or may not know that the V Bar Slash ranch house is eight
  miles down that trail [...]

Or in State v. Craig, New Mexico, 1922:

  The calves were then placed in a corral at the Webber ranch, and
  several days later were branded by appellant with A slash brand and
  then turned into the open pasture.

-- 
Adam Sampson <ats at offog.org>                         <http://offog.org/>