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> History of the "@" |
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The History of the @
Sign |
In
1972, Ray Tomlinson sent the first electronic
message, now known as e-mail, using the @ symbol to
indicate the location or institution of the e-mail
recipient. Tomlinson, using a Model 33 Teletype
device, understood that he needed to use a symbol
that would not appear in anyone's name so that there
was no confusion. The logical choice for Tomlinson
was the "at sign," both because it was unlikely to
appear in anyone's name and also because it
represented the word "at," as in a particular user
is sitting @ this specific computer.
However, before the symbol became a standard key on
typewriter keyboards in the 1880s and a standard on
QWERTY keyboards in the 1940s, the @ sign had a long
if somewhat sketchy history of use throughout the
world. Linguists are divided as to when the symbol
first appeared. Some argue that the symbol dates
back to the 6th or 7th centuries when Latin scribes
adapted the symbol from the Latin word ad, meaning
at, to or toward. The scribes, in an attempt to
simplify the amount of pen strokes they were using,
created the ligature (combination of two or more
letters) by exaggerating the upstroke of the letter
"d" and curving it to the left over the "a."
Other linguists will argue that the @ sign is a more
recent development, appearing sometime in the 18th
century as a symbol used in commerce to indicate
price per unit, as in 2 chickens @ 10 pence. While
these theories are largely speculative, in 2000
Giorgio Stabile, a professor of the history of
science at La Sapienza University in Italy,
discovered some original 14th-century documents
clearly marked with the @ sign to indicate a measure
of quantity - the amphora, meaning jar. The amphora
was a standard-sized terra cotta vessel used to
carry wine and grain among merchants, and, according
to Stabile, the use of the @ symbol ( the upper-case
"A" embellished in the typical Florentine script) in
trade led to its contemporary meaning of "at the
price of."
While in the English language, @ is referred to as
the "at sign," other countries have different names
for the symbol that is now so commonly used in
e-mail transmissions throughout the world. Many of
these countries associate the symbol with either
food or animal names.
Afrikaans - In South Africa, it is called aapstert,
meaning "monkey's tail"
Arabic - The @ symbol does not appear on Arabic
keyboards, only keyboards in both Arabic and
English. The Arabic word for @ is fi, the Arabic
translation of at.
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian - In these countries,
it is referred to as the "Crazy I".
Cantonese - In Hong Kong it is generally referred to
as "the at sign," just as in England America
Catalan - In Catalonia, it is called arrova, a unit
of weight.
Czech - In the Czech Republic, it is called zavinac,
meaning "rollmop," or "pickled herring".
Danish - It is called alfa-tegn, meaning
"alpha-sign" or snabel-a, meaning "elephant's trunk"
or grisehale, meaning "pig's tail".
Dutch - Since English is prominent in the
Netherlands, the English "at" is commonly used.
However, the Dutch also call it apestaart, meaning
monkey's tail," apestaartje, meaning "little
monkey's tail" or slingeraap, meaning "swinging
monkey".
French - In France, it is called arobase the name of
the symbol. It is also referred to as un a
commercial, meaning "business a", a enroule, meaning
"coiled a", and sometimes escargot, meaning "snail"
or petit escargot, meaning "little snail".
German - In Germany, it is called Affenschwanz,
meaning "monkey's tail" or Klammeraffe, meaning
"hanging monkey".
Greek - In Greece, it is called papaki, meaning
"little duck".
Hebrew - It is shablul or shablool, meaning "snail"
or a shtrudl, meaning "strudel".
Hungarian - In Hungary, it is called a kukac,
meaning "worm" or "maggot".
Italian - In Italy it is called chiocciola, meaning
"snail" and a commerciale, meaning "business a".
Japanese - In Japan, it is called atto maaku,
meaning "at mark".
Mandarin Chinese - In Taiwan it is called xiao
lao-shu, meaning "little mouse," lao shu-hao,
meaning "mouse sign," at-hao, meaning "at sign" or
lao shu-hao, meaning "mouse sign".
+
Norwegian - In Norway, it is called either grisehale,
meaning "pig's tail" or kro/llalfa, meaning "curly
alpha." In academia, the English term "at" is widely
used.
Polish - In Poland, it is called malpa, meaning
"monkey." It is also called kotek, meaning "little
cat" and ucho s'wini, meaning "pig's ear".
Portuguese - In Portugal it is called arroba, a unit
of weight.
Romanian - In Romania, it is called la, a direct
translation of English "at".
Russian - Russians officially call it a
kommercheskoe, meaning "commercial a", but it is
usually called sobachka, meaning "little dog".
Spanish -- Like in Portugal, in Spain it is called
arroba, a unit of weight.
Swedish - The official term in Sweden is snabel-a,
meaning "trunk-a," or "a with an elephant's trunk".
Thai
- There is no official word for it in Thai, but it
is often called ai tua yiukyiu, meaning "the
wiggling worm-like character".
Turkish - In Turkey, most e-mailers call it kulak,
meaning "ear".
Source:
www.webopedia.com
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