Currency symbols are almost invisible. We see them everywhere, but we rarely give them a thought, so let’s take a look at two of them.
Why is the symbol for the British pound sterling a stylized italic upper case L? It’s an abbreviated form of libra, Latin for pound or “pair of scales.” Libra is also the source of the abbreviation for the measurement lb.
Why is the dollar sign an S with one or two bisecting vertical rules? This all-American glyph is actually an immigrant. It comes to us from the Spanish peso. A stylized Ps, was an abbreviation for pesos in the New World. In English, it was first recorded in the 1770s in manuscripts and is seen in print in the early nineteenth century.
Again, a tip of the Textwrapper’s chapeau to the brilliant Humez brothers.
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