Ampersand - WikiHQ

The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram , representing the conjunction "and". It originated as a ligature of the word (Latin for ).

Etymology

Traditionally in English, when spelling aloud, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A", "I", and "O") was referred to by the Latin expression , as in "per se A" or "A per se A". The character &, when used by itself as opposed to more extended forms such as &c., was similarly referred to as "and per se and". This last phrase was routinely slurred to "ampersand", and the term had entered common English usage by 1837.

It has been falsely claimed that André-Marie Ampère used the symbol in his widely read publications and that people began calling the new shape "Ampère's and".

History