EDITED for two interpretations
Here's an attempt to meet the OP's specific requirements. Obviously, \thefnsymbol
needs to be fleshed out with more cases.
\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\@fnsymbol#1{\thefnsymbol{#1}---\thefnsymbol{#1}}
\def\thefnsymbol#1{\ensuremath{\ifcase#1\or
\alpha\or \beta \or \delta \or
\gamma\or \epsilon\or ... \fi}}
\makeatother
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}
\newcommand\wrapfootnote[2]{\stepcounter{footnote}%
\thefnsymbol{\value{footnote}}-#1-%
\thefnsymbol{\value{footnote}}\footnotetext{#2}}
\textheight1in
\begin{document}
\wrapfootnote{disciplines}{For example, Celtic studies.} require double marks in the text.
Also, \wrapfootnote{more disciplines}{For example, German studies.} require double marks in the text.
But never, ever, do \wrapfootnote{Antarctic Studies}{that's right, Antarctic
studies} require double marks.
\end{document}
With a slight redesign of \wrapfootnote
, the delimiters as superscripts can be obtained:
\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\@fnsymbol#1{\thefnsymbol{#1}---\thefnsymbol{#1}}
\def\thefnsymbol#1{\ensuremath{\ifcase#1\or
\alpha\or \beta \or \delta \or
\gamma\or \epsilon\or ... \fi}}
\makeatother
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}
\newcommand\wrapfootnote[2]{\stepcounter{footnote}%
$^{\thefnsymbol{\value{footnote}}-}$#1%
$^{-\thefnsymbol{\value{footnote}}}$\footnotetext{#2}}
\textheight1in
\begin{document}
\wrapfootnote{disciplines}{For example, Celtic studies.} require double marks in the text.
Also, \wrapfootnote{more disciplines}{For example, German studies.} require double marks in the text.
But never, ever, do \wrapfootnote{Antarctic Studies}{that's right, Antarctic
studies} require double marks.
\end{document}
