Buzz
The ampersand symbol can be traced back to a 1st-century CE graffiti on a wall in Pompeii. It wasn’t yet called the ampersand, but rather a ligature of the cursive letters e and t, forming the Latin word et, which translates to 'and.' (This is why etc. is sometimes written as &c.)
Initially, the & symbol had competition from shorthand et—the 'Tironian et' (⁊)—which may have been created around a century earlier as part of Cicero’s secretary Tiro’s shorthand system, notae Tironianae. Though it survived into the Middle Ages, the notae Tironianae eventually fell out of favor, leaving & to evolve and spread with the language.
By the early 1800s, & was commonly considered the 27th letter of the alphabet, right after z. It didn’t yet have a name, simply being read as 'and.' This led to some confusion when reciting the alphabet—x, y, z, and and. To clarify, children started saying and per se and, which gradually morphed into the term 'ampersand.'
The term 'mondegreen' for this centuries-old symbol was first used in the 1790s. Over 200 years later, this tiny punctuation mark now has its own dedicated day—September 8—to honor its history and ongoing significance.
Are you passionate about words? Want to explore unusual terms and vintage slang to spice up your conversations, or uncover fascinating stories behind common phrases? Then check out our upcoming book, The Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words: A Miscellany of Obscure Terms, Bizarre Phrases, & Surprising Etymologies, available on June 6! Pre-order your copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or Bookshop.org.
