Do you want to know more about the history of arroba? Do you want to know where the word arroba originated? If yes, this post will be of help to you. Here, I’ve covered all the important details that you need to know about the history of arroba.
Table of Contents
History of arroba
In this post, readers will find the following details –
- When and how did the word arroba originate?
- Original uses of the word arroba
- Adaptations in the use of the word arroba
- Modern-day uses of the word arroba
Come, let us check out the first section – origin of the term arroba. Here is everything you need to know about it –
Origin of arroba
The origin of the word arroba can be traced back to Spanish and Portuguese speakers. They started using the term arroba as a unit of measurement. They used arroba as a unit of measurement to deal with weight as well as volume.
How did the Spanish and Portuguese speakers coin the term arroba, some of you may ask. Due to trading & other commercial activities, the Spanish and Portuguese speakers came in contact with the Arabs. It is said that they borrowed the word arroba from Arabic (ar-rub).
Arroba & its changing purposes
As I mentioned before, the Spanish and Portuguese speakers used arroba as a unit of measurement. They used this unit of measurement to denote the weight and volume of commodities. With time, arroba was even used to denote the quantity of commodities.
By the 19th century, the word arroba was used extensively for accounting, invoicing & trading purposes. The symbol associated with arroba – @ sign – was used to indicate the price of commodities.
Arroba & its role in the digital age
In the digital age, the @ symbol is used extensively in social media (for tagging or mentioning a user), emails, programming languages, apps, maps & various other places.
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