Corpora: the At sign

[Daniel Riaño]

Jean Veronis wrote:
>>Dear All
>>I have a slightly unusual request: what do the speakers of various languages
>>call the at sign (@), as in the email addresses?
>
>In French, it is called "arobas" or "arrobas" - etymology unclear.
>Probably from "a rond bas de casse" (round a lower case). Nothing to
>do with the Spanish unit of measure with the same name.

hmmmm... In Spanish it is called "arroba" (a unit of measure, said to
be abbreviated with an especially shaped "a" resembling the "@"
sign). My guess is that French " 'arobas' or 'arrobas' " must have
the same origin, or being a borrow from modern Spanish, the "a rond
bas de casse" being a not-quite-folk etymology.
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Daniel Riaño Rufilanchas
Madrid, España

POR FAVOR, tomad nota de mi nueva dirección de correo: danielrr at eresmas.net