Some notes on how typographers Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones have rendered the ampersand in a handful of their different fonts. As for the word itself:

[F]olk etymologies abound. The likeliest account, offered by the OED, is explained by early alphabet primers in which the symbol was listed after X, Y, Z as "&: per se, and." Meaning "&: in itself, 'and'", and inevitably pronounced as "and per se and", it's a quick corruption to "ampersand," and the rest is history.

Apr. 30, '08
etymology, typography