Riddle 25

michael57

& close enough me thinks

WhatThe

A?

Beta and bet?

Jimm_Alumni

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/897175#Comment_897175

Yup! & used to be the last letter of the alphabet. It's shape is actually a slow evolution of the latin word 'et' which means 'and'. The e and the t merged and over centuries became the squiggle we now know as ampersand. In fact the name 'ampersand' comes from how you would say the alphabet. Nowadays we say '…y, and z' but back then you would go 'y, z, and per se and'

The 'and per se and' bit eventually merged into 'ampersand'

michael57

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/897316#Comment_897316

haha i remember the change in school in the mid 1800 s