- The @ symbol has ancient origins linked to amphora measurements in Mediterranean trade before becoming a staple of modern digital communication.
- Ray Tomlinson’s 1971 email experiment transformed @ from an accounting mark into a global connector of digital identities.
- Across cultures, @ has gained unique names and new functions, shaping how people present themselves in online spaces.
BLOGSIA.EU.ORG - The @ symbol—now inseparable from email, social media handles, and global digital identity—carries a history far older than the internet itself. Far from a modern invention, the @ sign evolved from ancient Mediterranean trade, medieval manuscripts, accounting shorthand, and the rise of the typewriter before becoming the backbone of online communication. Today, the @ symbol functions not just as punctuation, but as a cultural, linguistic, and technological marker that shapes how we navigate and understand our digital lives.
In 2010, MoMA curator Paola Antonelli made a bold curatorial decision. She wanted a design exhibition showcasing everyday objects—items so ordinary that most people overlook them. Post-it Notes, M&Ms, paper clips, and kitchen tools stood beside celebrated works of art. Her mission: to help visitors see the hidden narratives behind familiar items. Among the unexpected stars of the exhibition was the @ symbol, later acquired for MoMA’s permanent collection.
Antonelli argued that museums create distance—allowing people to rediscover objects by isolating them from their daily context. The @ symbol, lifted from the keyboard, becomes a cultural artifact with a deep and surprising history.
When you glance at your keyboard, few characters carry more cultural weight than @. It anchors every email address and highlights usernames across digital platforms. It is one of the most universally used symbols of the internet age. Yet its story predates computers by centuries.
Its origins, according to punctuation historian Keith Houston, lie in abbreviation. But what exactly was abbreviated? The answer leads back to ancient pottery and the world of Mediterranean trade.
The ancient Greeks used tall clay vessels with narrow necks and dual handles—amphorae—to store goods such as grain, wine, and olive oil. Over time, amphorae evolved into units of measurement. Merchants frequently wrote “a” with a long looping tail to represent amphora, gradually removing the rest of the letters. This early typographic shorthand slowly transformed into the @ sign.
A notable early use came from a 1536 letter written by Italian merchant Francesco Lapi. He used @ as an abbreviation for one amphora of wine, priced at 70–80 ducats. This example is often cited as the first modern instance of @.
But the symbol existed even earlier. A 1375 Bulgarian manuscript includes @ as ornamental lettering, embellishing the word “amen.” The symbol’s visual appeal long preceded its commercial function.
As amphora faded from economic use, @ found new life in accounting. Bookkeepers adopted it to denote price, quantity, and units of goods. Typographers carried this practical usage into the typewriter era.
By the late 19th century, the @ mark earned a place among typewriter keys. Typewriters were essential to business operations, and accountants relied heavily on the symbol. Early machines lacked digits like 1 and 0, but they still included @. Its importance in commerce guaranteed its survival across generations of keyboard design.
The @ sign might have remained a niche accounting tool if not for Ray Tomlinson, an American computer engineer working on ARPANET in 1971. Tomlinson needed a way to route messages between computers and users within a network. Scanning his keyboard, he chose @—a symbol rarely used in computer programming—and placed it between a username and a host machine.
He then sent the world’s first email. The @ sign, once tied to amphorae of wine, became the connective tissue of digital communication.
As the internet spread globally over the next 50 years, @ traveled with it. Cultures adopted their own names based on its shape. Italians call it chiocciola, or snail. In Hebrew it is strudel. Czechs see a pickled herring roll, zavináč. Russians call it sobaka, the curled-up dog. Dutch speakers use apenstaartje, the “little monkey tail.” Each name reflects cultural imagination shaped by a single looping line.
Despite the global creativity, English speakers simply call it “at” or occasionally “commercial at.” Its function in addressing emails overshadowed any need for metaphor.
In Spanish and Portuguese, @ is arroba, a term historically linked to a unit of weight. In modern Spanish, it has gained new life as a gender-inclusive marker, replacing masculine “o” and feminine “a.” Words like amigos can become amig@s, symbolizing linguistic inclusivity.
Typographers note that @ subtly shapes digital identity. To create an email or social media handle, people must condense their names, remove spaces, and select a unique username. The symbol forces users to define themselves in a single string of characters—often blending personal identity with creative expression.
Linguists studying online culture argue that usernames function like alternate identities. Changing a username can feel as significant as changing a name in the physical world. Because @ precedes every username, it becomes intertwined with self-representation.
This emotional connection is one reason the @ symbol has transcended mere punctuation. It is a marker of presence—a signifier that you exist somewhere in the digital universe.
MoMA’s exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design reframes @ as a masterpiece of functional design. For Antonelli, the symbol embodies a moment of discovery: the realization that even the smallest elements of our visual environment carry millennia of history, innovation, and meaning.
The @ symbol—once a shorthand for clay jars—now anchors our place in the digital world. Its journey reflects humanity’s long relationship with symbols, technology, and identity.
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