Facts About Ampersand

What Is An Ampersand?

Ampersand is a sign or character that symbolizes the word and.

The English alphabet has 26 letters. A and I also serve as words in addition to being two of the 26 letters. There was a time when the alphabet had 27 letters. The Ampersand was once a part of the alphabet, and some regions and dialects included it in the alphabet well into the 1800’s.

In the early years of Rome during the 7th Century BC, Romans would tend to combine the “E” and “T”. The combo kind of looked like the Ampersand symbol. ET means “and” and thus the likely origin of the Ampersand was born. The Ameprsand was at the end of the alphabet thus suggesting people would recite “X Y Z And”, which is awkward. Oe could combat this by saying “X Y Z and by itself And”. The latin phrase per se meaning “by itself” came into play. This, we ended up with a muttering combining the sequence of “and”, “per se”, and “and” resulting in A M P E R S A N D.