The ampersand (&) originated with Roman scribes around the 1st century AD who sought to write more efficiently. They created a ligature by combining the letters "e" and "t" from the Latin word "et," which means "and." This practice was a feature of evolving Roman cursive scripts. The symbol became particularly common in medieval monastic scriptoria, where monks copying manuscripts used it to streamline their laborious work on expensive parchment. The name itself is a more recent invention. In 19

21K views · 154 reactions | Muse: An Ampersand Podcast Live. “Intros & Narrators” episode with @theycallmeabimbola available wherever you listen to your podcasts  Also… @emmanagouse & I will be on @bbc5live tomorrow evening with @therealnihal taking about the stories behind “&”. Tune in @ 9pm GMT. | Bastille | Facebook