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Hey, Brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here.

In English, we call it the at symbol.

You know, the lowercase A encased in a curl that we put in email addresses and social media

handles. We are linguistically dull on this count. In Germany, it's called a clamorafet,

meaning spider monkey. In Israel, it's called a strudel after the rolled pastry. In Hungary,

it's a cook-cats, meaning worm. In Hungary, it's a cook cuts, meaning worm. In Norway,

it's a grizzahale, meaning pig's tail, and in Turkey, it's called the gull, meaning rose.

Apologies, by the way, for my pronunciation on all of those I did make an effort. At any rate,

we English speakers obviously missed an opportunity to play on the fun curly-cue shape of the at sign. But if we're interested in the long and fascinating

history of this now ubiquitous symbol, it's better to call it by its Spanish name, Aroba.

If you travel to a Spanish-speaking country today and visit the local it's better to call it by its Spanish name, Aroba.

If you travel to a Spanish-speaking country today and visit the local food market,

you might come across a different usage of the aroba that predates email addresses by half a millennium.

In Ecuador, or Bolivia, for example, a large quantity of potatoes is often sold by the aroba,

with one aroba equalling a little less than a bushel, which is about 60 pounds or 27 kilos.

It's not a set measure across goods. An aruba of oil is about three gallons or 11 liters,

and an aruba of wine is about four gallons, or 15 liters.

But, okay, what's the connection between aroba, the weight and measure, and aroba the symbol on your keyboard?

The Greeks and Romans used to trade commodities like wine, oil, and olives stored in long-necked ceramic jars called amphoree. For these ancient Mediterranean merchants, an amphora was

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