From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Virgule \Vir"gule\, n. [F. virgule, fr. L. virgula, dim. of
virga. See Verge a rod.]
A comma. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
In the MSS. of Chaucer, the line is always broken by a
caesura in the middle, which is pointed by a virgule.
--Hallam.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
virgule
n 1: a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of
information [syn: solidus, slash, virgule,
diagonal, stroke, separatrix]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
virgule
<character> Rare, and ambiguous: slash or comma.
"Virgule" (or rather, Latin "virgula", meaning "little rod"
or, vividly enough, "little penis") was the name of a
punctuation character shaped like a small slash and used in
the Latin writing system much like a modern comma -- hence
the ambiguity of this term in modern English.
Compare French "virgule" and Italian "virgola", meaning
"comma" (not "slash"); Italian "doppia virgola" and
"virgoletta", both meaning "double quote".
(1997-04-08)