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Started by Yuki Tanabe (@yuki_reads) ·

& used to be recited as the 27th letter of the alphabet

Kids used to recite the alphabet ending in '...X, Y, Z, and per se and', meaning '& by itself is and'. Slurred together that became 'ampersand'. The symbol itself is the letters e and t (Latin 'et') joined into one.

4 sources · 24 min down the hole

How I got here

Started with
Where does the word ampersand come from?
Ended at
Ligature (writing)

The Trail

  1. “ampersand origin and per se and” (google.com)
  2. Ampersand (en.wikipedia.org)
  3. Tironian notes (en.wikipedia.org)

    also gave us ⁊, the Tironian et, which looks like a 7 and is still on signs in Ireland

  4. Ligature (writing) (en.wikipedia.org)

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