Index finger

"Index finger" literally means "pointing finger", from the same Latin source as indicate; its anatomical names are "index finger" and "second digit".

The index finger has three phalanges. It does not contain any muscles, but is controlled by muscles in the hand by attachments of tendons to the bones.

File:Anger during a protest by David Shankbone.jpg at a woman during an argument]]

A lone index finger held vertically is often used to represent the number 1 (but finger counting differs across cultures), or when held up or moved side to side (finger-wagging), it can be an admonitory gesture. If held upward, it can also mean "wait a minute" or "one moment". With the hand held palm out and the thumb and middle fingers touching, it represents the letter d in the American Sign Language alphabet.

Pointing with the pointer finger may be used to indicate or identify an item, person, place or object.{{cite web|url=http://www.comm.ohio-state.edu/pdavid/preparedness/docs/Crosscultural/gestures.pdf |title=Gestures: Body Language and Nonverbal Communication |author=Gary Imai |access-date=12 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100331212736/http://www.comm.ohio-state.edu/pdavid/preparedness/docs/Crosscultural/gestures.pdf |archive-date=March 31, 2010 }}

Around age one, babies begin pointing to communicate relatively complex thoughts, including interest, desire, and information. Pointing in human babies can demonstrate the theory of mind, or ability to understand what other people are thinking. This gesture may form one basis for the development of human language.

Non-human primates, lacking the ability to formulate ideas about what others are thinking, use pointing in much less complex ways.{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/how_babies_work/2013/03/26/research_on_babies_and_pointing_reveals_the_action_s_importance.html |title=Research on babies and pointing reveals the action's importance |last=Day |first=Nicholas |date=26 March 2013 |work=Slate |access-date=25 April 2013}} However, corvids, dogs{{cite journal |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0030913 |pmid=22347411 |pmc=3275610 |title=Dogs (Canis familiaris), but Not Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Understand Imperative Pointing |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=e30913 |year=2012 |last1=Kirchhofer |first1=Katharina C. |last2=Zimmermann |first2=Felizitas |last3=Kaminski |first3=Juliane |last4=Tomasello |first4=Michael |bibcode=2012PLoSO...730913K |doi-access=free}}

• {{cite press release |date=February 8, 2012 |title=Dogs succeed while chimps fail at following finger pointing: Chimpanzees have difficulty identifying object of interest based on gestures |website=ScienceDaily |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120208180251.htm}} and elephants{{cite journal |doi=10.1073/pnas.0911239106 |pmid=19926857 |pmc=2791620 |jstor=40536081 |title=Phylogenomic analyses reveal convergent patterns of adaptive evolution in elephant and human ancestries |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=106 |issue=49 |pages=20824–9 |year=2009 |last1=Goodman |first1=M. |last2=Sterner |first2=K. N. |last3=Islam |first3=M. |last4=Uddin |first4=M. |last5=Sherwood |first5=C. C. |last6=Hof |first6=P. R. |last7=Hou |first7=Z. C. |last8=Lipovich |first8=L. |last9=Jia |first9=H. |last10=Grossman |first10=L. I. |last11=Wildman |first11=D. E. |bibcode=2009PNAS..10620824G |doi-access=free}}
• {{cite news |author=Katie Collins |date=October 10, 2013 |title=Elephants found to understand human pointing without training |work=Wired UK |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-10/10/elephant-pointing }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} do understand finger pointing.

In some cultures, particularly the Malays and Javanese{{Cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1990/0412/dindo4.html|title=A Thumb Points the Way in Java|last=Scott|first=David Clark|date=12 April 1990|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|quote=...figures in some reliefs can be seen pointing - with their thumbs. 'Pointing with the index finger is a terrible thing to do. It means death or violence. People used their thumb for polite pointing and it's still the same today,' notes Jan Fontein, curator of the exhibition of ancient Indonesian sculpture sponsored by Mobil Indonesia...}} in Southeast Asia, pointing using the index finger is considered rude, hence the thumb is used instead.

In Islam raising the index finger signifies the Tawhīd (تَوْحِيد), which denotes the indivisible oneness of God. It is used to express the unity of God ("there is no god but God").

In Arabic, the index or fore finger is called musabbiḥa (مُسَبِّحة), mostly used with the definite article: al-musabbiḥa (الْمُسَبِّحة). Sometimes also as-sabbāḥa (السَّبّاحة) is used.{{Cite book|title=Islam for Nerds - 500 Questions and Answers|last=Drißner|first=Gerald|publisher=createspace|year=2016|isbn=978-1530860180|location=Berlin|pages=521}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.arabic-for-nerds.com/what-does-it-mean-when-a-muslim-raises-the-index-finger/|title=What does it mean when a Muslim raises the index-finger?|date=2016-12-31|website=Arabic for Nerds|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-18|archive-date=2019-07-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718183235/https://www.arabic-for-nerds.com/what-does-it-mean-when-a-muslim-raises-the-index-finger/|url-status=dead}} The Arabic verb سَبَّحَ - which shares the same root as the Arabic word for index finger - means to praise or glorify God by saying: "Subḥāna Allāh" (سُبْحانَ الله).

Before the advent of GPS and compass, early humans used index finger for pointing direction of objects with the help of stellar objects during night time.{{Cite news|url=https://www.astronomytrek.com/using-the-stars-for-direction-latitude-and-time/|title=Using The Stars For Direction, Latitude, And Time|last1=|first1=|publisher=Astronomy Trek|date=29 November 2012 |access-date=26 October 2022}}

The index finger pointing up is a sign of teaching authority. This is shown in the depiction of Plato in the School of Athens by Raphael.{{cite book | title=The Authority of the Word: Reflecting on Image and Text in Northern Europe, 1400-1700 |

first1=Celeste|last1=Brusati|first2=Karl A. E.|last2=Enenkel|first3=Walter|last3=Melion |

publisher=Brill | date=Nov 11, 2011 | page=168 | isbn=978-9004215153}}

As a modern artistic convention, the index finger pointing at the viewer is in the form of a command or summons. Two famous examples of this are recruiting posters used during World War I by the United Kingdom and the United States.

• Digit ratio, comparative lengths of the index finger and ring finger and androgen levels in utero
• Extensor indicis muscle
• Fingering (disambiguation)
• Finger numbering
• Index (typography)

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{{Authority control}}

Category:Gestures

Category:Fingers