apostrophe

[daisy1352]

In a word like O'Neill what does that apostrophe mean? Does it have a special meaning? If yes can you give me another example?
Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

In a word like O'Neill what does that apostrophe mean? Does it have a special meaning? If yes can you give me another example?
Thanks

It's an abbreviation of the word "of". It originally showed that the person's father was called, in this case, Neill (or Neil).

So if Neil had a son, and called him Peter, he would become "Peter of Neil". This then became shortened to O plus an apostrophe.

 

[vheissu]

It stands for letters which have been lost in the shortening of the phrase. In that way it is like contractions like "don't" and "it's."