The Apostrophe
The apostrophe is named after the Greek word apostrophos meaning “of turning away”, or “elision” (the omission of one or more sounds in a word.
English took the word from the French apostrophe which originally came from the Latin apostrophus.
Shakespeare uses the word apostrophe in 1588 in Love’s Labour Lost. Apostrophes were first used to signify omitted letters around 1611. When denoting possession, only became widespread in the 18th century (1725).
More recently, apostrophe use and teaching has lapsed causing some of the grammatical errors that frequently occur in daily life.