Have you ever found yourself wondering how the ampersand (&) came to be? Not only does it have a cool origin story, its inception is interwoven with elements of graphic design.
E-T- PHONE HOME
According to numerous scholars, the ampersand can be traced back to the first century AD. Interestingly enough, it began as a ligature. Merriam-Webster defines a ligature as “a printed or written character consisting of two or more letters or characters joined together.” The word for ‘and’ in Latin is ‘et.’ The ampersand is actually a cursive ligature of the letters ‘e’ and ‘t.’ Cool, right? But how did that lead us to the word ‘ampersand?’
A-B-C’s. AS EASY AS 1-2-3.
So, back in the day (like, a few hundred years ago) schools in England used the phrase ‘per se’ when spelling out words. The phrase basically means ‘by itself.’ For example, if schoolchildren recited the spelling of “I implore you”, they’d say, “per se i, i, m, p” and so on. This indicated that the initial ‘i’ stood by itself. During this time, the et ligature had become so widely used that, for a period of time, it essentially became the 27th letter of the alphabet. Children reciting the alphabet would include the & after the letter Z. Phonetically you’d hear “x, y, z, and per se and.” That phrase eventually blended into the word ‘ampersand.’
THE OG ROMANS
The ampersand, in its original form, was created by the Romans. According to history, Romans created the ligature out of their use of cursive to transcribe as efficiently as possible. While the ampersand has literally taken on many different shapes from what it first looked like, the Roman version remains the original. Modern handwriting created variations of the & symbol, but typography trends are swinging back in favor of what the Romans created. Considering how perfect it looked to begin with, “per se i” am not mad at it at all.
CONCLUSION
As always, POP THE PIXEL stays on the cutting edge of typography trends, new and old. Contact us for a free consultation regarding all of your graphic design, website design, and logo design needs. Oh, and don’t forget to check us out on Instagram!
About the Author of This Post
Nazanin Nour is an actor and writer based out of Los Angeles who likes to make people laugh. You can follow her multiple personalities on Twitter @NazaninNour, Instagram @frecklednaz, and subscribe to her YouTube channel.