French Word of the Day: Esperluette
Why do I need to know Esperluette?
Because it's the French for a very common symbol in language that isn't
l'arobase*
.
What does it mean?
Esperluette
– roughly pronounced ess-per-loo-ette – is the French word for the ampersand or 'and' symbol. It's also sometimes known as '
et commercial
', because so many businesses have it in their name.
It describes the & symbol, which is a typographical combination of the letters E and T. The symbol dates back to Roman times - its first known use is on a papyrus from 45CE. In fact, the French for 'and' is taken from the Latin - et.
Sadly, contrary to popular belief, ampersand was not named after the French physicist André-Marie Ampère. It is not 'Ampère's and', no matter how much we may want it to be.
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The origins of the French word are harder to pin down. It could a corruption of the Occitan es per lo et (pronounced ess per loo ett) - which, in French becomes 'C'est pour le « et »' … or, 'it's for the 'and''.
Similarly, it could come from Picardy, as a corruption of perluète - when the symbol & was more commonly included in the alphabet, after the letter Z.
Interestingly, the symbol has evolved over the centuries. But the first recognisably modern form was developed by Claude Garamond - yes, that Garamond, of font fame - in the 15th century for use in printing presses.
Use it like this
Le 'et' entre le V et le B est une esperluette
- the 'and' between the V and the B is an ampersand
* If you've ever given out your email address in French you will know
l'arobase
(pronounced lar-oh-baz), it's the French for the @ symbol
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