Is anyone aware of the reasons for choosing the particular symbols that Make uses i.e. '@' (targets), '^' (list of dependencies) and '<' (first in the list of dependencies)?

I have admittedly limited experience with make and I always seem to forget what symbol stood for what. They don't seem to be particularly intuitive mnemonics to me.

For example, one could argue that '<' for target and '>' for dependencies would be a tad clearer.