Morse Code Knows Where It's @
Feb 19, 2004 - International Morse Code, the nearly forgotten shorthand of
early electronic communications, is being updated to 1990s technology. Morse
Code was first introduced in 1844 and has seen little change since that
time. As the electronic age continues to advance, Morse Code users were
finding the need to transmit the "@" symbol. In December, the International
Telecommunications Union voted to add the new character.

The new sign, which will be known as a commat, consists of the signals for
"A" (dot-dash) and "C" (dash-dot-dash-dot), with no space between them.

The symbol was selected for use in e-mail addresses in 1972 because it was
rarely used but widely available. It's history is not clearly known, but
some credit it as being an adaptation of the Latin word ad meaning at, to or
toward. The symbol encircles the letter a with the letter d. The symbol was
adapted for commerce as a shorthand to mean at the price of.

Another possible origin is the flourished style of the letter a to mean
amphora, a standard-sized terra cotta jar used in the 14th century.

In English, it is commonly referred to as the at sign. In other languages,
it carries names related to names of animals, tails and ears. Some examples
appear below.