first dictionary with @?

[Barbara Need]

>>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

It is certainly still used that way: I order stuff for the UofC's
Language Labs all the time, and ea. is the standard abbreviation for
items priced by the unit. I used to read @ as 'each'.

Barbara