What does the symbol ≪ mean in word origin description in dictionary.com?

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What is the meaning of the symbol ≪ in word origin description in dictionary.com?

e.g. in https://www.dictionary.com/browse/-ule

ORIGIN OF -ULE
  < French < Latin -ulus, -ula, -ulum diminutive formative with nouns of the 1st and 2nd declensions ≪ *-el- (cf. -cle1, -elle, -ole1); the deverbal suffix -ulus, etc. (cf. cingulum, tumulus) is of distinct orig.

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Is this symbol common among many dictionaries?

David L. Gold · Accepted Answer

<< means that one or more links in the etymological chain are supposed but are unattested.
Compare:
x < y means that x is believed to come from y immediately.
x << y means that x is believed to come from y though not immediately, that is, one or more words mediate between x and y but that word or those words have not been identified.
x (<?) < y means that that x is believed to come from y though it is not known whether it does so immediately OR one or more words mediate between x and y.

What does the symbol ≪ mean in word origin description in dictionary.com?

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