[LeoPanthera]

"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and".

As far as I can tell the "&c." version was popularized by the 1944 novel "Anna and the King of Siam".

So it literally means "I am, etc.", which I assume only expands to "I am your humble and obedient servant" in a humorous way. Might be taken the wrong way.

[tsm]

&c was widely (exclusively?) used in the 18th century. I happen to have been looking at this newspaper ad most recently: https://i.imgur.com/ALe5XeT.jpg

The inference is that the second book (Airs &c &c) will also be of Airs, Minuets, Gavotts, and Reels (or something similar).

Also, 18th-century letters routinely end with some snowclone of "your most humble and obedient servant", with many writers eliding some or all of it with &c since it was understood.

[i_am_proteus]

Plus, during the lead type era, using the '&' instead of 'et' saved the printer wear on often-heavily-worn 'e's and 't's in the font.

[jjgreen]

Amusingly "ampersand" is derived from the time when it was the 27th letter of the alphabet just known as "and", one would recite the alphabet as "..., x, y, z, and, per se, and", contracted to ampersand.

[Tagbert]

That’s because “&” is a ligature (2 joined characters) of “e” and “t” and represented the Latin work “et” which means “and”.

[happytoexplain]

I think humorously is the intended way for it to be taken. But not disrespectfully.

[Accujack]

>"&c" is the archaic form of "etc", the ampersand being a ligature of "et" - Latin for "and".

"etc" is an abbreviation for and contraction of "et cetera", Latin for "and so on". "&c" is, I think, an artifact of a particular time in history when writing skills were spreading rapidly but the process of writing itself was cumbersome and time consuming, necessitating macro-type abbreviations like that. It's not particularly archaic.

[Pigalowda]

It is Latin shorthand created by Cicero’s educated slave, Tiro. The system was created to record senate meetings and conversations for Cicero to go over later.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tironian_notes

[musicale]

> the ampersand being a ligature of "et"

I have been noticing recently that certain ampersands contain (to me) very clearly readable "et" abbreviations, while others are more stylized.

[noduerme]

>> a particular time in history when writing skills were spreading rapidly but the process of writing itself was cumbersome

I feel like I'm previewing the 22nd Century's review of "LOL", "WTF" and "THOT".

[bryanrasmussen]

>Might be taken the wrong way.

My wife might be offended if I implied being her humble and obedient servant was only an etc.