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I am writing a paper, and I was wondering if I could use an asterisk and dagger symbol to add a note in the footnotes section explaining a word in Chicago style.?

Example:

Lola* and other plenipotentiaries† signed the document.

*Filipino word meaning "grandma."

†Diplomatic representative of a country.

  • It would be normal to use brackets or some similar convention, unless a very long explanation is required. If something is essential to understanding the text, it should be in the text not in a footnote. – Stuart F Feb 01 '22 at 15:49

2 Answers2

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You can use symbols for footnotes if you don't have a lot of footnotes.

Section 14.25 of the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style says:

[..] Where only a handful of footnotes appear in an entire book or, perhaps, just one in an article, symbols may be used instead of numbers (see also 14.24). Usually an as­terisk is enough, but if more than one note is needed on the same page, the sequence is * † ‡ [..]

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The references1, 2, 3, 4 to the Chicago style that I have seen use numbers in superscript when adding a (foot)note, so probably not.

NofP
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  • One exception I've seen to this is when you have both endnotes and footnotes. In which case you'd use numeric for endnotes, and symbols for footnotes. Which makes sense, but I don't have a reliable source confirming it. –  Jan 31 '22 at 14:15
  • @towr I too thought I had seen it, but found rather references pointing to the opposite :( – NofP Jan 31 '22 at 15:42
  • I managed to find it in section 14.49 of the style guide (17th ed.) But in 2.22 they also say not to use both footnotes and endnotes unless "truly necessary". It's also referenced in the FAQ but the actual guide is paywalled. –  Jan 31 '22 at 16:04