The ampersand is a take on the phrase "and per se and." If you recite the alphabet and tack on "... and 'per se and'" to the end, you can hear that it does kind of sound like "ampersand." Kind of.
You see, "per se" is the Latin for "by itself." The ampersand symbol is a word all by itself (just like A or I), so children would add "per se" in front of it. The word 'ampersand' was in use by 1837.
One can trace their roots of the symbol back to the first century AD and Roman cursive. (I didn't know the Romans had cursive until today!) The Latin word for 'and' is 'et.' Figure 1 shows the combination of 'e' and 't.'
This is also called a ligature. A ligature is a combination of two characters. Figures 2 and 3 show 5th century ligatures.
Figure 4 shows a Carolingian minuscule. Between 800 and 1200, the Roman alphabet was standardized to allow for the dissemination of documents from region to region.
Figures 5 and 6 show more modern adaptations. They are stylized, but once you know to look for the letters 'et,' you can definitely see it.
The ampersand began to fall out of fashion around the turn of the twentieth century; by the first World War, it was all but extinct.
I, however, am totally in favor of restoring this lowly character to its rightful place among the pantheon of letters. Not because I want to screw up every alphabet book written in the last century, but because I'm lazy.
My ninth grade English teacher told me never to use the ampersand in an essay. All these years later, I still use it. No other teacher or professor has ever complained about it. But I always use it with some wariness.
So join me in celebrating this forgotten, but immensely useful letter. Perhaps we can bring it back into vogue.
Well, this is pretty short, but I actually learned quite a bit writing this.
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