Did ampersand used to be a letter?
The symbol we know as the ampersand first appeared in some graffiti on a Pompeian wall around the first century CE. It wasn’t called an “ampersand” at the time—it was just a ligature of the cursive letters “E” and “T” forming the Latin word et, which means “and.” (This is why “etc.” is sometimes written “&c”.)
Why was ampersand a letter?
That very first ampersand was a ligature—that is, a character consisting of two or more letters joined together. Its creator was joining the letters e and t, of the Latin word et, meaning “and.” “And per se, and” eventually evolved into ampersand, the word we know and love today. & the rest is history.
Is the ampersand informal?
Although ampersands are thought of as informal, if the ampersand is officially part of a company name, it’s best to use the ampersand instead of writing out the word “and.” For example, you write “Tiffany & Co.,” “Procter & Gamble,” and “AT” with ampersands.
What was the 27th letter of the alphabet?
The ampersand often appeared as a character at the end of the Latin alphabet, as for example in Byrhtferð’s list of letters from 1011. Similarly, & was regarded as the 27th letter of the English alphabet, as taught to children in the US and elsewhere.
Where did the word ampersand come from in the alphabet?
The word “ampersand” came many years later when “&” was actually part of the English alphabet. In the early 1800s, school children reciting their ABCs concluded the alphabet with the &. It would have been confusing to say “X, Y, Z, and.” Rather, the students said, “and per se and.” “Per se” means “by itself,” so…
Why is the ampersand called a per se letter?
At the time, the ampersand wasn’t the only letter that got the “per se” treatment either. According to Merriam-Webster, people would also use the phrase to identify single letters that were being used as words instead of letters. For example, people would say “I, per se I” to show they meant the word I instead of the letter I.
When do you use the ampersand in a sentence?
The ampersand (&) is a symbol for and. Unlike the percent or degree symbol, you generally shouldn’t use the ampersand except in the most informal situations.
Is the ligature Ampersand the 27th letter of the alphabet?
The question is correct in asserting that the ligature ampersand (&) was once considered the 27th letter of the English alphabet, at least for the purpose of reciting it in schools: