ampersand

ampersand englannista suomeksi

1. et-merkki

0. Substantiivi

1. et-merkki, ampersandi

1. Verbi

ampersand englanniksi

1. The symbol "&".

(ux)

2. (quote-book )

3. (quote-book )—''A per se A''. This is ''and per se and''; by a little smoothing and elision in pronunciation, becoming ''Ampersand''. “The expression,” says the learned author referred to, “is not yet forgotten in the nursery.” No; nor far beyond the nursery. It is remembered and used in the village-school, in the cottage, the shop, and the farm-house. This formula of spelling and putting together was applied to every syllable consisting of one letter only; as we all may remember who learned our first elements on the principles of the old school. Only, indeed, the dame was wont to express ''per se'' in her own English, and teach us to say “''A by the self A''.” The character ''&'' is, however, in fact, originally and properly ''Latin'', and is a combination of the two letters ''e'' and ''t'', which constitute the common conjunction copulative in that language. It has been adopted and transferred into other languages, for the same use, with or without the same propriety. It must be allowed to exhibit stronger traces of its two constituent letters than the majority of those Greek abbreviations, tables of which, more or less copious, are inserted in almost all grammars, and which are so very embarrassing in ancient MSS. and early printed editions. A curious and irrefragable proof of the Latinity of this character in the rich library at Holkham, Norfolk. In a Latin MS. of the Four Gospels, supposed to be of the tenth century, it is used as a part of many words, at the end, and even in the body of them. Instances are, ''posset'' and ''sciretis''; written thus, ''poss&'' and ''scir&is''. There is a multitude of others.

4. (quote-journal )

5. (quote-book ) AMPERSAND. The character &, representing the conjunction ''and''. It is a corruption of “''and, per se, and''” (and, by itself, and). This expression was formerly very common in this country, but seems now to have gone out of use. It may, however, be retained in the interior, where the modern system of education has not reached. Mr. Halliwell, who notices this word in his ''Archaic and Prov. Dict’y'', says, that it is or was common in England. In Hampshire it is pronounced ''amperzed'', and very often ''amperze-and''. Strutt, in his ''Sports and Pastimes'', mentions an ancient alphabet of the fourteenth century, now in the Harleian Library, at the end of which is “X Y wyth (smc) per se—Amen.”

6. (quote-journal ).—This word was formerly much used in nursery books to express the character ''&'' placed at the end of the alphabet. Halliwell says “In Hampshire it is pronounced ''amperzed'', and very often ''amperse’-and''.” The word has been called a puzzling word. One writer says that as he heard it it never puzzled him because his venerable instructress taught him to say after ''z'' “and-pussy-and.” He considered that ''&'' was called ''pussy'' from its resemblance to a cat in a sitting posture. This is certainly a quaint conceit. Another writer’s recollection of the way he pronounced the word when a boy was am''puzzy''am. Another still says his venerable instructress taught him to pronounce it ''ampseand''. We now give the correct explanation of the word. A quarter of a century ago our maternal grandfather, a native of New Jersey, told us that he was taught to spell ''able'' abisselfa, ''b''-''l''-''e'', bl, ''able'', but he said he never knew what ''abisselfa'' meant. A few years after we found that ''abisselfa'' is a corruption of ''a'' by itself ''a'', that is ''a'' standing by itself in a syllable is pronounced ā and not ă, or ä or a̤. In the same way ''idle'' would be spelled ibisselfi, ''d''-''l''-,''e'' dl, ''idle'' and ''ogle'', obisselfo ''g''-''l''-''e'' gl, ''ogle''. It seems that the Latin phrase ''per se'' was also used instead of ''by itself'' so that instead of ''abisselfa'', ''ibisselfi'', and ''obisselfo'', the children were taught to say a ''per se'' a, i-''per''-''se''-i, and o-''per''-''se''-o. It is not strange that ''per se'' became in the mouths of children ''pussy'' or ''puzzy''. The character ''&'' was in like manner taught as ''and per se and'', which became by corruption ''and pussy se and'', etc., and finally ''ampersand''.

7. (quote-journal ) (smc). / W(smc) is the legitimate form of the ampersand? Ringwalt’s American Encyclopædia of Printing says that it was not adopted in its present form until about 1750. It was originally the Latin et surmounted by a ligature, and the type founders give it to us in Roman in this form (&), and in old-style italic in this form (''&''). There is a wide difference between the two, and there exists a still wider difference in various display types, while the sign painter takes all sorts of liberties with the figure. The word is a contraction of “and per se and,” signifying “and by itself and.” It is occasionally spelled amparzand, and is found in old books in the form ampusand, amperse-and, ampassyand, amperzed, etc. Having for many years received recognition in primers as a tail-end to the alphabet, and being apparently of fixed use in the language, it becomes interesting to discover what forms it has taken on in arriving at its present shape, if indeed it have any present legitimate state.

8. (quote-song)

9. To add an ampersand to.

10. (l)