The @ symbol is something that the majority of us will use every day, from e-mailing coworkers to replying to friends on Twitter and Instagram. However, it may come as a surprise that this what seems relatively modern symbol is over 600 years old. Moreover, that at one point it was not deemed necessary and almost became obsolete.
The origin of the symbol itself is something of a mystery. The @ symbols first recorded use was all the way back in 1345, where the @ sign is the first letter of the word 'Amen' within 'The Manasses Chronicle'.
By the late 16th century, in southern Europe, the @ sign had taken on a new meaning. It was used to represent amphora, a storage jar that was used in Romans times. This was not the last time it would be used in trade as by the 18th century it once again changed its meaning. It was now called 'commercial A' and used instead of 'at the rate of' in documents. For example, '10 Scarfs at the rate of 1 Shilling' would have been shortened to '10 Scarfs @ 1 Shilling'.
However, this was a short-lived usage, and it eventually went into relative obscurity for many years; it didn't even make it onto the first typewriter. It was, finally, added in 1889 when it became a standardised character; and by 1963 its future was ensured when it was added to the new internationally recognised character set.
The symbol’s obscurity official ended in 1971 when computer scientist Ray Tomlinson was facing a frustrating problem. Ray was at work on Arpanet, the forerunner of the internet, and was faced with the challenge of how to address a message created by one person and sent through Arpanet to someone at a different computer.
The address needed an individual’s name, as well as the name of the computer, which might service many users. And the symbol separating those two address elements could not already be widely used in programs and operating systems. That's when Ray noticed a certain symbol placed above the P on his Model 33 teletype, that's right, our friend the @ symbol! He then added some his code to an existing program and sent himself a message, this was the first ever email and the birth of @ as we know it today!