Letters are the basic building blocks of any language. And as any language evolves, the number of letters in it's particular alphabet can rise and fall. Almost all English speakers are aware that there are currently 26 letters in the English alphabet. However, as recently as the very early 1900's there was an additional letter in the English alphabet. That extra letter was, "&", the ampersand.
The ampersand symbol is not an invention of the English language. The first example we have comes from a scrap of papyrus from around 45 AD. The ampersand symbol first came into being as the cursive of the Latin word "et", which means "and". As the ancient Roman scribes were writing, the two letters of et began to be joined, and eventually formed the symbol we know today.
The name ampersand comes from the early 1800's where the ampersand symbol was printed at the end of English alphabet charts as the 27th letter. When children in school would recite the alphabet, any letter that could be used as a word was preceded by the words per se which is latin for by itself. For example instead of just saying the letter "I", the children would say, "and per se I" As the ampersand was the last letter on the chart, the phrase would go "X, Y, Z, and per se and." At some point, people began saying the last part compressed together, and instead of "and per se and" it became "ampersand". Eventually, around the 1900's, the ampersand began to be dropped off of the letter charts, leaving us with the 26 letters that English has today.
1. http://hotword.dictionary.com/ampersand/?fb_ref=hotword_activity
2. http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/theampersand.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand
4. http://www.word-detective.com/052003.html#ampersand
5. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ampersand
6. http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/112/
The ampersand symbol is not an invention of the English language. The first example we have comes from a scrap of papyrus from around 45 AD. The ampersand symbol first came into being as the cursive of the Latin word "et", which means "and". As the ancient Roman scribes were writing, the two letters of et began to be joined, and eventually formed the symbol we know today.
The name ampersand comes from the early 1800's where the ampersand symbol was printed at the end of English alphabet charts as the 27th letter. When children in school would recite the alphabet, any letter that could be used as a word was preceded by the words per se which is latin for by itself. For example instead of just saying the letter "I", the children would say, "and per se I" As the ampersand was the last letter on the chart, the phrase would go "X, Y, Z, and per se and." At some point, people began saying the last part compressed together, and instead of "and per se and" it became "ampersand". Eventually, around the 1900's, the ampersand began to be dropped off of the letter charts, leaving us with the 26 letters that English has today.
1. http://hotword.dictionary.com/ampersand/?fb_ref=hotword_activity
2. http://www.adobe.com/type/topics/theampersand.html
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand
4. http://www.word-detective.com/052003.html#ampersand
5. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ampersand
6. http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/112/
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