Isn't "the letteral '.'" precisely translated by {me'o denba bu}? Just like "the word 'prami'" is {zo prami}? A letteral used as a sumti is usually understood to be a pro-sumti, as per http://dag.github.io/cll/17/9/
iesk was probably referring to the idea of using lerfu words as references to themselves, which would explain the sentence, regardless of what dotside is.