Re: @

Andrew Smith <hobbit@...> wrote:
> A question to a question and answer page in the NZ Listener asked what is
> the @ symbol called?  It produced these answers:
>
> English, "commercial at"
> German, "klammeraffe" (spider monkey), or "affenschwanz" (monkey's tail)
> Dutch, "apestaartje" (monkey's tail)
> Danish and Norwegian, "grisehale" (pig's tail) or "snabel" (with an
> elephant's trunk)
> Finnish, "kissanhanta" (cat's tail) or "miukumauku" (miaow sign)
> Hungarian, "kukac" (worm or maggot)
> Czech, "zavinac" (rollmop herring)
> Hebrew, "strudel" (Viennese apple pastry)
> Swedish, "kanelbulle" (cinnamon bun)
> French, "escargot", (snail)
>
In Spanish, "arroba", from Arabic _ar-rub'_ "the fourth part".
It used to be the weight of one-fourth of a "quintal" (100 lb),
so 25 lb more or less. In modern times it's supposed to be
about 10 kg only, but no-one uses it here anymore.
I don't know where the symbol originated, but of course the
little thing in the centre is an "a".


--Pablo Flores