File talk:Ampersand Evolution.svg
Critique[edit]
The morphing, as I will call it, which is shown in this picture has nothing to do with the actual historical evolution. For one, the origin is obviously not, as this image implies, an Et ligature in a 20th century sans serif typeface. For an authentic view of the evolution of this sign, see instead this picture of mine:
The origin of character 6 can be traced back continously to 3, which is a plain ligature. (Note that the "e" is ascending well above the "t". This, however, does not mean that we are dealing with an upper case "E" followed by a lower case "t"; at this point in time, the Latin alphabet had not yet developed into two separate cases. Hence, we might just as well describe this sign as an ET ligature.)
Note especially the following things, which contradict the steps taken in the morphing:
- The upper part of the E closed all by itself, without any influence from the T.
- The upper bar of the T has no connection to the middle bar of the E. Instead, it is drawn as a separate stroke, all the way to 6, where it is flipped and joined to what was originally the lower part of the E. The morphing shows this little extension as simply growing out from the E, long after the bar of the t has vanished.
All in all, this image is created purely from the artist's own imagination, I'm afraid. — Alatius (talk) 10:40, 26 November 2009 (UTC)
