IF a & is an ampersand what is the term for @?

[mkjuk]

please help

[Quizmonkey]

It's an arobas (or arrobe, or arobe) in other languages but in English usually just known as the 'at symbol'.

[Quizmonster]

In English, the only genuine names for @ are 'the at sign/symbol' - as Quizmonkey says above -' or, sometimes, 'the commercial at sign/the commercial a'. It has the latter names because it is often used in business in sentences such as: "14 items @ �12.50 = �175.00.
The symbol originated in the 6th century, when scribes writing in Latin made @ stand for �ad', meaning �to/towards/near/at'. That is, they wrote the letter �a' and then curled the tail of the letter �d' around it. This is much the same meaning it has when we now use it as part of e-mail addresses. The @ indicates where the addressee is "at" as Americans - or even Dorset folk! - might put it.
There simply is no other generally-acceptable name in English, though attempts have been made to have it called �the mercantile symbol' or even the curlicue, scroll, whorl, cyclone, snail and cabbage!
The French call it an 'arobase' - apparently a corruption of �a rond bas', meaning"�a' surrounded by a circle" - but that's of little use to you unless you live in France or Quebec! In Denmark it's called a �trunk-a'...ie an �a' with an elephant's trunk...or a cinnamon roll. Not Scandinavian, are you? Other languages have similarly poetic names for it...'monkey' in Poland, 'monkey's tail' in Germany and South Africa, �monkey's testicle' in Holland, �cat's tail' in Finland, �snail' in Israel, Italy and Korea, �ear' in Turkey and even �pickled herring' in the Czech Republic! All wonderful ideas, but not for us, it seems. So, here in the UK, you must just settle for �at sign', I'm afraid.

[goldenboy]

not wanting to be a peter pedant to you quizmonster, but i have it on very good authority from my finnish girlfriend that the @ in finnish is called miukumauku which translates as a cats mieow, sorry

[Quizmonster]

Dear GB, the point about this tiny symbol is that it has a myriad of different names, often more than one in any given language. For example, if you click here and scroll down to the paragraph which opens "In German...", you will find that Finnish itself also has 'kissanh�nt�', meaning 'cat's tail'. That is the precise version I offered earlier. Check it out with your girlfriend!

[goldenboy]

now she tells me that it sounds vaguely familiar and that they probably use both. i apologise for my pedantry

[smorodina]

Russian, too, has more than one name for it. As well as 'dog', on QM's link page, they use 'ear' - which it has a strong resemblance to.

[Quizmonster]

No problem, GB!