Prompt Cast
The History and Evolution of the @ Symbol
TLDR The @ symbol has a fascinating history, with different names in different countries and origins in the Spanish and Portuguese measurement "Aroba." It eventually became shorthand for M4A and was later adopted as the symbol for email addresses in the 1970s.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The @ symbol has an interesting history and can be a fun conversation starter.
02:09
The @ symbol has different names around the world, such as "Klamorafa" in Germany and "strudel" in Israel, and in Spain it is called "aeroba," which is believed to be the oldest name for the symbol.
04:31
The Spanish and Portuguese used the measurement "Aroba" for their commodities, which comes from the Arabic word for "one fourth" or "a quarter," and they worked closely with the Moors who lived in the area.
06:52
An Aroba, a unit of measurement used by the Spanish and Portuguese, eventually became synonymous with the M4A, a vessel used for storage and a unit of measurement, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
09:24
The @ symbol was first used as a shorthand for M4A in a letter from 1536, and in the United States it became known as shorthand for "at the rate of something" in commerce.
11:48
The @ symbol became a part of computing in the 1950s and was later used as the symbol for email addresses in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson.
14:14
The @ symbol was chosen for email addresses because it already made sense as "at" and hadn't been used in coding language, making it a free symbol to be used.
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Society & Culture
