Computing Dictionary
commercial at definition
character "@".
ASCII code 64. Common names: at sign, at, strudel. Rare: each, vortex, whorl,
INTERCAL: whirlpool, cyclone, snail, ape, cat, rose, cabbage, amphora.
ITU-T: commercial at.
The @ sign is used in an
electronic mail address to separate the local part from the
hostname. This dates back to July 1972 when
Ray Tomlinson was designing the first[?]
e-mail program.
It is ironic that @ has become a trendy mark of Internet awareness since it is a very old symbol, derived from the latin preposition "ad" (at).
Giorgio Stabile, a professor of history in Rome, has traced the symbol back to the Italian Renaissance in a Roman mercantile document signed by Francesco Lapi on 1536-05-04.
In Dutch it is called "apestaartje" (little ape-tail), in German "affenschwanz" (ape tail). The French name is "arobase". In Spain and Portugal it denotes a weight of about 25 pounds, the weight and the symbol are called "arroba". Italians call it "chiocciola" (snail).
See
@-party.
(2003-04-28)
