numeral “8” by 90° when typesetting
was done by hand. The symbol is sometimes named as “lazy eight”, evoking the image of an “8” lying on its side.
Another popular belief is that the infinity symbol is a clear depiction of the hour glass turned at an angle of 90°
because this action would cause the hour glass to take infinite time to empty, thus presenting a tangible example of infinity.
The invention of the hourglass predates the existence of the infinite symbol thus allowing this theory to be plausible.
The precise origin of the infinity symbol ? is not clear. One possibility can be suggested by the name it is sometimes called — the
lemniscate, from the Latin lemniscus, meaning “ribbon”. One can imagine walking forever along a simple loop formed from a ribbon.
A popular explanation is that the infinity symbol is derived from the shape of a Möbius strip. Again, one can imagine walking along its
surface for ever. However, this explanation is not probable, as the symbol had been in use to represent infinity for over two hundred
years before August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing discovered the Möbius strip in 1858.
There is also a possibility of the inspiration from an old religious / alchemical symbolism. The infinity snake, the
ouroboros symbol (also, uroboros or uroborus) is a serpent or a dragon biting its own tail. The symbols appeared in Egypt
in 1600 BC. It has been associated with the Zodiac on the whole and the eternity of time. It is the symbol of the perpetual
cyclic renewal of life. It has been found in Tibetan rock carvings and elsewhere