Original article by EL PAIS here
The scene takes place in Bulgaria, in 1345. The author of this manuscript finishes his paragraph with a usual "amen", but with an A written in a very peculiar way, which makes this page the first to contain an @ in history. Let's get back to the birth of this symbol.
According to a first hypothesis, it would come from the "arroba" measuring unit, that was registered as "@" at the customs on the border between Castilla and Aragon. The only proof of it is found in a Spanish document, dated 1448. However, this unit was gradually abandoned and replaced by other more convenient ways of quantifying and weighing goods
The modern form of "@" appeared much later. It didn't even find a place in the first writing machines. This symbol, that has now invaded social networks (and became unavoidable in Twitter) actually came from a need of an engineer to use a non standard character: the 29 years olded Ray Tomlinson explained to Computer World in 2007. Tomlinson probably didn't remember the content of his first email received. Though the address already had a @ in it...
The scene takes place in Bulgaria, in 1345. The author of this manuscript finishes his paragraph with a usual "amen", but with an A written in a very peculiar way, which makes this page the first to contain an @ in history. Let's get back to the birth of this symbol.
According to a first hypothesis, it would come from the "arroba" measuring unit, that was registered as "@" at the customs on the border between Castilla and Aragon. The only proof of it is found in a Spanish document, dated 1448. However, this unit was gradually abandoned and replaced by other more convenient ways of quantifying and weighing goods
The modern form of "@" appeared much later. It didn't even find a place in the first writing machines. This symbol, that has now invaded social networks (and became unavoidable in Twitter) actually came from a need of an engineer to use a non standard character: the 29 years olded Ray Tomlinson explained to Computer World in 2007. Tomlinson probably didn't remember the content of his first email received. Though the address already had a @ in it...
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