Amondegreen ofandper se and, ⟨&⟩ being read as “and”. Letters used by themselves were formerly mentioned according to this pattern, as in “O per se O” for the particleO or “I per se I” for the pronounI.[1] “And per se and” thus meant ⟨&⟩ by itself, as opposed to forms such as&c.
The specific formampersand is first attested in 1795, originally as a mockingpronunciation spelling, but this name for the symbol is attested since 1777 (asampuse and), when it is already called common (see quotations).[2]
The Letter commonly calledIpse and andampuse and viz &. is a corruption ofa per se and: spoken very quick; they used formerly it seems to put a single Greek α, for a contraction of and, & so this wasa per se and.]
1795,[Samuel Jackson] Pratt, “Letter XXI. To the same[i.e., the Honourable Mrs. B.].”, inGleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia, with Views of Peace and War at Home and Abroad.[…], volume I, London:[…]T[homas] N[orton] Longman, and L[eonard] B[enton] Seeley,[…],→OCLC,page311:
At length, having tried all the hiſtorians from greatA, toamperſand, he perceives there is no eſcaping from the puzzle, but by ſelecting his own facts, forming his own concluſions, and putting a little truſt in his own reaſon and judgment.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
