first dictionary with @?

[Laurence Horn]

>On Sun, 18 Apr 2004, sagehen wrote:
>
>>>>Was it, as I always thought, simply a way of writing "ea." ?
>>>>A. Murie
>>>
>>>??? What would the <ea.> have signified?
>>>
>>>Bethany
>>~~~~~~~~~~
>>Price per one; as in "2 pr. socks,  ea. (@) .60    1.20".
>>AM
>
>Thanks - I did not know that <ea.> was ever used that way.
>
>Bethany

And to be more explicit for anyone unfamiliar, the "ea." abbreviates
"each".  I've seen "ea." used that way (though not recently), and I'm
sure my first encounters with @ were in the above use.  It's
certainly a plausible speculation, although if we find a Danish or
French use of @ predating the English one, it becomes less so.

Larry