and-per-se-and

When reading Jane Austin’s Persuasion the other day I came across a seemingly strange gathering of characters – &c. I immediately (two days later) set forth to discover the meaning. It didn’t take me long to find out that &c. stood for etc. which of course in Latin means “et cetera” or “and so forth”.

This then got me into the history of the ampersand. The ampersand stands for “and” and the Latin for “and” is “et”. So consequently the ampersand symbol is a fusion of the “e” and “t”. It seems so obvious to me now but my real question from all this is why has it taken me so long to question the ampersand? Of course, one reason is we never seem to question the familiar. There are certain things we are brought up around and know but never seem to question, for instance when we meet someone new we shake their hand. We know what a handshake is for and how to use it but we never question where it comes from. Only a few months ago did I bother to look up the history of the “@” symbol finding out it originally came from accounting. The graphic designer within me feels very disappointed at myself for taking so long to discover the history of the ampersand. News years resolution – question more!

There is a very interesting, concise, history of the ampersand by Jonathan Hoefler over at H&FJ’s.