Собака at gen.

[Ромашка]

Здравствуйте, уважаемые знатоки.
А кто-нибудь может просветить меня, почему собака в электронной почте на англ.языке называется at?
Заранее спасибо за ответы

[Amor 71]

Мож наоборот надо спросить, почему символ по-русски называют собачкой?

[Erdferkel]

у каждого народа свои аналогии
см. раздел "названия @ на других языках"
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/@

[tumanov]

The actual origin of the @ symbol remains an enigma.

@ History tells us that the @ symbol stemmed from the tired hands of the medieval monks. During the Middle Ages before the invention of printing presses, every letter of a word had to be painstakingly transcribed by hand for each copy of a published book. The monks that performed these long, tedious copying duties looked for ways to reduce the number of individual strokes per word for common words. Although the word "at" is quite short to begin with, it was a common enough word in texts and documents that medieval monks thought it would be quicker and easier to shorten the word "at" even more. As a result, the monks looped the "t" around the "a" and created it into a circle-eliminating two strokes of the pen.

Another story tells the @ symbol was used as an abbreviation for the word amphora. Amphora was the unit of measurement that determined the amount held by the large terra cotta jars that were used to ship grain, spices and wine. Giorgio Stabile, an Italian scholar, discovered the @ symbol in a letter written in 1536 by a Florentine trader named Francesco Lapi. It seems likely that some industrious trader saw the @ symbol in a book transcribed by monks using the symbol and appropriated it for use as the amphora abbreviation. This would also explain why it became common to use the symbol in relation to quantities of something.

[Tante B]

это не собака так называется, это адрес так читается :о)

[Aiduza]

because the mailbox is located AT such-and-such domain, e.g. charlie at thechocolatefactory.com = [e-mail]

[TSB_77]

по-узбекски собака будет it (етча - собачка), возможно, корни идут из этой страны.

[johnstephenson]

Aiduza +1

Also, the '@' in simple equations such as
'3 hours @ £4 per hour = £12' means
'3 hours at [the rate of] £4 per hour'.

All very logical, you see....

[Aiduza]

Cheers, John!
Note that the original question was about @ in email addresses only:
"...почему собака в электронной почте на англ.языке называется at?"

[tumanov]

Так она повсюду так на английском языке называется потому что.
И за пределами темы электронной почты.

[johnstephenson]

Aiduza: I know -- but it's the same character in both cases, and it was called 'at' long before electronic mail came along!

[johnstephenson]

However, I've a much better idea: If they're going to name it after something real, how about 'ear'? That makes much more sense....

fred somewhere.com
(H)ear (H)ear!

[Aiduza]

"Так она повсюду так на английском языке называется потому что.
И за пределами темы электронной почты."

ИМХО, не следует давать вопрошающему больше информации, чем тот в состоянии переварить.

[Aiduza]

согласен, что читается эта собачка как at в обоих случаях, но в адресе "@" относится к адресу, а в "3 hours @ £4 per hour" - к расценке.

[johnstephenson]

Aiduza: Yes, like lots of characters it's used in more than one context -- to mean different things. But it's called 'at' in all of them. It's been called 'at' for centuries.

[Aiduza]

John, I don't mind! :) I just tried and explained that to the 'asker'.