The origin of the ampersand
I love a good ampersand. They can make (or break) a typeface. Working on a logo today that needed a unique hand-drawn one, it got me thinking to where the ampersand actually originated from. How did it evolve? Why?
To my surprise it actually dates back to more than 1500 years ago. In the first century, Roman scribes wrote in cursive, so when they wrote the Latin word 'et' which means “and” they linked the e and t. Over time the combined letters came to signify the word “and” and became the 27th letter of the alphabet. Have a good look at an ampersand, as certain versions (like the font Caslon) reveal the origin of the shape!
The word 'ampersand' came years later in the 1800s when school children reciting their ABCs were getting confused saying "X, Y Z, and". Overtime it all mushed together and they were pronouncing it "and per se and". Today we've slurred the whole thing together to form the word: ampersand.
And to think that the gorgeous little ampersand came from such random, rich history.
Mind-blowing stuff for a Tuesday morning!
Thanks to http://blog.dictionary.com/ampersand/ for taking me on this little history of type.
