1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paragraph

PARAGRAPH, a term for a section or division of written or printed matter, which, as beginning a new subject, marking a break in the subject, &c., is signified by beginning the section on a new line set back or indented; also by the symbol, now ¶, a reversed P, formerly ( or ), to mark such a division. The Gr. παραγραφός (παρὰ and γράφειν, to write alongside or beside) was used of the short horizontal line or stroke which marked a line in a MS. where such a division occurs; and παραγραφή of a marginal note, also the division so marked. The word “paragraph,” besides these technical typographical meanings, is also applied to the separate numbered sections in an affidavit or other legal document, or in a statute, &c., and in journalism to a short item of news or brief notice of events.