Where does the "dog" on the keyboard come from?

There are many different symbols, although we don't use all of them. But each has its own purpose and history. In the written article we will talk about “@”: we will consider its role and the explanation for the assigned name.

History of the symbol

First you need to understand the definition. Thus, “dog” is a symbol in the form of a lowercase letter “a” directly in an open circle. It was originally used in payment documentation instead of the English word "at", which means "at price". It is important to understand that some linguists associate its origins with the Middle Ages. It was during this period that monks often prescribed it in the Latin alphabet as an abbreviation for “ad.”

Another part of the scientists claims that the “@” was first noticed among the records of a merchant in Florence back in the sixteenth century. He gave it the meaning of “amphora”. This was necessary in order to replace the “vessel” and indicate, for example, the price of one @ wine. If we talk about official recognition, we should mention the date associated with the introduction of the code for the sign in Morse code - February 2004. The presented solution was made in order to provide additional convenience in transmitting email addresses.

Of course, you can find many other versions on the Internet. For example, there is an opinion that the origin occurred thanks to a certain game, where the main character had to wander around and complete tasks. In his role, as is already clear, there was a dog.It was also displayed on the monitor screen partially using the described icon. Consequently, over time, a certain association was formed, which instantly spread throughout the entire population. In conclusion, over time, certain areas have emerged in which the label is applied in its own way.

Below are some of them:

• Services for separating accounts from the domain name. So, most often you can find it used in writing address lines. This exploitation was first carried out in the twentieth century. A famous programmer of the time suggested using "@" in the process of sending a similar email from "somebody@example.com".
• In addition, there are other names of addresses in which the label can be found.
• It occupies a special place in programming languages, as well as in formal languages, which can justify its most frequent use.
• In the social network, “twitter” before the name of the account is used as a kind of mention or in order to respond to other contacts.
• In commercial calculations. Let’s say the price of oil in the USA is “10 gal of oil @ $3.95/gal”.
• In English-speaking countries it is used in science.
• In Europe, this is how the corresponding road sign is depicted, which indicates a place of public access.
• In some languages, for example, in Spanish and Italian, it is used in colloquial speech by mail instead of writing the letter “o”. This is done to present the gender in a neutral way.

Why is it called “dog” in Russia?

In fact, it turns out that “et” in the Tatar and Bashkir languages ​​means a dog. In other peoples, especially Turkic ones, the specified animal is pronounced similar to this word “it” or “yt”.Although it is interesting that the Spaniards and Portuguese associate such an indication in electronic messages with the word “amphora” - arroba. In France, the inhabitants somewhat distorted it and turned it into arobase. In fact, the population of a particular territory often uses the meaning of “@” specifically with the zoological sphere, with animals. In Poland they correlate the meaning with “monkey”, in Greece - with “duck”, in Taiwan - with “mouse”, in Hungary - with “worm”.

In addition, the Swedes and Danes regard it as an “elephant trunk”, and the Italians, like the Koreans, call it a “snail”. A similar concept can be found among the Armenians, they also call “@” a doggie. However, if we touch on the most unusual stories of the presented situation, then it is worth mentioning China. There, “dog” was pronounced trivially as “a in a circle.” However, the couple gave the born child this name.