bnevin@CCH.BBN.COM ("Bruce E. Nevin") (03/15/88)
I'm sure some of you typography mavens know the origin of the "at" sign. A couple of theories that have come up on the local "English" bboard: The circle maybe originally extended around to cross a t, as in the derivation of & from et The circle is the C in "ca.", abbreviation of "circa" The symbol originally meant "each", as in "3 apples @ 5cents", the prototypical usage The discussion came up in connection with misuse (fortunately still minority) to signify "about", as in "the room holds @ 8 people" and (ambiguously) "the meeting starts @ 7:30", where ~ borrowed from math is more common usage for the present audience. What's the real story about the origin of @? Bruce bn@cch.bbn.com
CAB@SAIL.STANFORD.EDU (Chuck Bigelow) (04/06/88)
Received: from cch.bbn.com by SAIL.Stanford.EDU with TCP; 28 Mar 88 11:50:31 PST Date: Mon, 28 Mar 88 14:54:07 EST From: "Bruce E. Nevin" <bnevin@cch.bbn.com> Subject: @ To: cab@sail.stanford.edu Cc: bn@cch.bbn.com Do you know the origin and etymology, so to speak, of the @ sign? Bruce It was originally Latin "ad" = `at'. And that's what it still meeans. In fast cursive handwriting the ascender of the `d' curves over to the left and the bowls of the a and d merge. It thus became a logograph in the medieval era. --Chuck Bigelow