Why is the apostrophe sign a valid path separator in Perl

perl, syntax

Solution

See perlmod for explanation:

The old package delimiter was a single quote, but double colon is now the preferred delimiter

So, the reason is history.

Problem

In Perl, you call modules using `::` as path separator. So, if you have a module on `site/lib/GD/Image.pm`, you call `use GD::Image`. However, long time ago I found out that you can also call `use GD'Image` and things like `my $img = new GD'Image;`, and there are also modules on CPAN using that syntax on ther names/documentation. What is the purpose or logic behind that? Is it maybe, as many things in Perl, just a feature intended to humanize sentences and allow you to create and use modules like Acme::Don't? Does it have any other intention different to `::`?

Original source