dynagirl

Wow, cool, here’s something I just learned:

The Latin word et (meaning “andâ€?) was first written as two distinct letters, but over time the ‘e’ and ‘t’ were combined into a ligature of sorts. Once the ampersand was accepted as a single character, artistry took over and a more flowing design evolved. … The word “ampersandâ€? is an alteration of the phrase “et, per se andâ€? (that is: “et by itself [means] andâ€?), which became corrupted to “and, per se andâ€?, and finally, ampersand.

UPDATEBut wait, there’s more!

The initial configuration of the exclamation point, which is descended from a logotype for the Latin word io (“joy”), was a capital I set over a lowercase ‘o’. As with the question mark, the design of the exclamation point was gradually streamlined to its present form.