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AMPERSAND
n.
An ampersand is the logogram '&' and represents the conjunction 'and'. It originated as a ligature (a character consisting of two or more joined letters) of the Latin 'et' which means 'and' in English.
AMPERSAND
n.
An ampersand is the logogram '&' and represents the conjunction 'and'. It originated as a ligature (a character consisting of two or more joined letters) of the Latin 'et' which means 'and' in English.
But *why* is & called an ampersand?
Well...
Well...
Historically when alphabets were recited in English-speaking schools, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ('A' and 'I', for example) was recited with the Latin expression 'per se' (which means 'by itself').
So 'A' would be recited as 'A per se A'.
So 'A' would be recited as 'A per se A'.
The & sign was commonly added to the end of the alphabet and treated as the 27th letter in a recitation. It was pronounced as the Latin 'et' and then latterly as the English 'and'.
As a result, an alphabetic recitation would end in 'X, Y, Z, and per se and', which was routinely slurred as 'ampersand'.
Thus 'ampersand' entered common English usage in 1837 as the term for the & sign that we all know and love.
P.S. The ampersand shown above comes from our @nlsarchives printing samples in Acc.5811 > https://manuscripts.nls.uk/repositories/2/resources/9068
P.P.S. Bonus fact - the Latin term 'et cetera' which means 'and other similar things' 'and so forth' was formerly abbreviated to '&c.' using our lovely ampersand (now archaic - most of us now use the modern abbreviation 'etc.')
