> [...] A would be read as “A per se A”, [...] I, similarly, would be “I per se I” [...] O would be “O per se O”
That's incorrect, these would have been respectively "per se A", "per se I", and "per se O." The confusion is coming from how the ampersand was listed out in the alphabet:
> The alphabet is A, ..., X, Y, Z, and per se and.
That doesn't mean "&" was spelled out as "and per se and" separately. The first and is because it's the last item in a list in a sentence. Only the second and is part of the full phrase of per se and. If you use it as a single item in a sentence, it works like this:
> The last letter of the alphabet is per se and.
The last sentence of the article:
> the alphabet once ended with a final “X, Y, Z, and & per se &”.
Should be:
> the alphabet once ended with a final “X, Y, Z, and per se &”.
Well, by the 19th-century mainly in (British?) English, according to those sources. By then had been abandoned in other European languages.
Britannica [0] says:
- invented by Romans c. 1st century BCE as a shorthand for 'et', can be seen from Pompeii
- was [also] prevalent in German manuscripts throughout the 19th century.
- gradually abandoned by most [non-English] languages by the end of the 19th century, with the notable exception of Gaelic, where it's also still used [as an evolution of the rival Tironian symbol].
and [1] has a really interesting illustration by Houston (1957) citing Tschichold (1953), showing the evolution of the ampersand over 2000 years, from Pompeii through 8th-C Merovingian Latin to modern-day.
> - was [also] prevalent in German manuscripts throughout the 19th century.
It's still common enough in Germany, but mostly used for company names if you combine two names. E.g. Müller & Schmidt. Which is why it's also called the "Kaufmanns Und", the "merchants' and".
also sometimes called "Et commercial" in french, so "commercial and". The official name is esperluette which has a nice and probably similar history as ampersand.
To anyone trying to figure out what the missing "Eyetests were a lot easier in the 1920s" image was referring to, here's a link to an archived version:
If you like this, I'd highly recommend the book, "Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks": https://a.co/d/iqGNnyi
Not on punctuation specifically but otherwise highly recommended Robert Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style" discusses the ampersand and its usage in great depth. Somehow Bringhurst's obsession with this character is almost uncanny.
In German, the & character is known as “kaufmännisches Und”, or “tradesman’s and”. For this reason, I used to believe that ampersand was really “amper’s and” and amper was somehow an obsolete word for tradesman.
Needless to say, that it not the case, but it felt very convincing.
In some latin languages we have a similar modern name ("e comercial" in portuguese, "y comercial" in spanish, "E commerciale" in italian), literally meaning "commercial 'and'". I'm not sure about the history about it though
Did you know that the term "computer" used to refer to an occupation? The same used to be true for audio amplifiers. It was a role traditionally occupied by the loudest shouter in the village.
I was visiting the V&A museum the other day and came across some stone typography carvings by Eric Gill - they include A-Z, 0-9 and also just &. I wonder if this is why? (However, the ampersand is still very much separate from the alphabet on the stone)
>I'm sure we could find other letters for the rest of them.
Looking at the number of pronunciations for the same letter sequence in English you'd probably need an alphabet with hundredsof letters to make this happen.
Readit News
That's incorrect, these would have been respectively "per se A", "per se I", and "per se O." The confusion is coming from how the ampersand was listed out in the alphabet:
> The alphabet is A, ..., X, Y, Z, and per se and.
That doesn't mean "&" was spelled out as "and per se and" separately. The first and is because it's the last item in a list in a sentence. Only the second and is part of the full phrase of per se and. If you use it as a single item in a sentence, it works like this:
> The last letter of the alphabet is per se and.
The last sentence of the article:
> the alphabet once ended with a final “X, Y, Z, and & per se &”.
Should be:
> the alphabet once ended with a final “X, Y, Z, and per se &”.
Britannica [0] says:
- invented by Romans c. 1st century BCE as a shorthand for 'et', can be seen from Pompeii
- was [also] prevalent in German manuscripts throughout the 19th century.
- gradually abandoned by most [non-English] languages by the end of the 19th century, with the notable exception of Gaelic, where it's also still used [as an evolution of the rival Tironian symbol].
and [1] has a really interesting illustration by Houston (1957) citing Tschichold (1953), showing the evolution of the ampersand over 2000 years, from Pompeii through 8th-C Merovingian Latin to modern-day.
Latterly got pressganged by our C/C++ brethren.
[0]: https://www.britannica.com/topic/ampersand
[1]: https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2020/12/ampersand-2.html
It's still common enough in Germany, but mostly used for company names if you combine two names. E.g. Müller & Schmidt. Which is why it's also called the "Kaufmanns Und", the "merchants' and".
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Here's an example from Ireland: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pay_and_Display_sign...
(I don't know about the other Gaelic language, Manx, but I suspect that they prefer the ampersand. Their orthography is more English-like generally.)
Another prominent use in Irish was the old pre-1984 P&T / P⁊Ꞇ (Posts and Telegraphs) logo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_Posts_and_Telegra...
Image of sign: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Irish_Post_%26_Telegraphs...
Another old P⁊T anti-vandalism sign: https://www.pinterest.ie/pin/506162445597268179/
Deleted Comment
https://web.archive.org/web/20191128021121/http://dlewis.net...
I can just hear the lettering conversation...
"We need a font with a TON of contrast for this. The thin parts should be negligible. Hairline.
People should get to the R, reflect back on what they now realize was an H, and then start thinking about a more appropriate career"
Needless to say, that it not the case, but it felt very convincing.
Today we use the term "influencer".
Did you know that the term "computer" used to refer to an occupation? The same used to be true for audio amplifiers. It was a role traditionally occupied by the loudest shouter in the village.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Gill#/media/File:Eric_Gil...
No need for unnecessary digraphs with special pronunciation. I'm sure we could find other letters for the rest of them.
Looking at the number of pronunciations for the same letter sequence in English you'd probably need an alphabet with hundredsof letters to make this happen.
At this point you can just switch to IPA instead.
Don't ask me to defend it though. Good friend but not my project
He was a software dev for like 45 years if you can tell from the site design
But as far as I can see there really isn't any controversy over it.