ß
| ẞ | |
|---|---|
| ẞ ß | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | Alphabetic |
| Language of origin | Early New High German |
| Sound values | [s] |
| In Unicode | U+1E9E, U+00DF |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Time period | ~1300s to present |
| Descendants | None |
| Sisters | None |
| Transliterations | ss, sz |
| Other | |
| Associated graphs | ss, sz |
| Writing direction | Left-to-right |
In German orthography, the letter ß, called Eszett (IPA: [ɛsˈtsɛt], S-Z) or scharfes S (IPA: [ˌʃaʁfəs ˈʔɛs], "sharp S"), represents the /s/ phoneme in Standard German when following long vowels and diphthongs. The letter-name Eszett combines the names of the letters of ⟨s⟩ (Es) and ⟨z⟩ (Zett) in German. The character's Unicode names in English are double s,[1] sharp s[2] and eszett.[2] The Eszett letter is currently used only in German, and can be typographically replaced with the double-s digraph ⟨ss⟩ if the ß-character is unavailable. In the 20th century, the ß-character was replaced with ss in the spelling of Swiss Standard German (Switzerland and Liechtenstein), while remaining Standard German spelling in other varieties of the German language.[3]
The letter originated as the ⟨sz⟩ digraph used in late medieval and early modern German orthography, represented as a ligature of ⟨ſ⟩ (long s) and ⟨ʒ⟩ (tailed z) in blackletter typefaces, yielding ⟨ſʒ⟩.[a] This developed from an earlier usage of ⟨z⟩ in Old and Middle High German to represent a sibilant that did not sound the same as ⟨s⟩; when the difference between the two sounds was lost in the 13th century, the two symbols came to be combined as ⟨sz⟩ in some situations.
Traditionally, ⟨ß⟩ did not have a capital form, and was capitalized as ⟨SS⟩. Some type designers introduced capitalized variants. In 2017, the Council for German Orthography officially adopted a capital form ⟨ẞ⟩ as an acceptable variant, ending a long debate.[4] Since 2024 the capital has been preferred over ⟨SS⟩.[5]
- ^ Sandra Köktas (20 September 2022). "German double s and eszett". Lingoda. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
- ^ a b Unicode Consortium (2018), "C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement, Range 0080–00FF" (PDF), The Unicode Standard, Version 11.0, retrieved 2018-08-09.
- ^ Leitfaden zur deutschen Rechtschreibung ("Guide to German Orthography") Archived 2012-07-08 at the Wayback Machine, 3rd edition (2007) (in German) from the Swiss Federal Chancellery, retrieved 22-Apr-2012
- ^ Ha, Thu-Huong (20 July 2017). "Germany has ended a century-long debate over a missing letter in its alphabet". Retrieved 9 August 2017.
According to the council's 2017 spelling manual: When writing the uppercase [of ß], write SS. It's also possible to use the uppercase ẞ. Example: Straße — STRASSE — STRAẞE.
- ^ "Amtliches Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung. Auf der Grundlage des Beschlusses des Rats für deutsche Rechtschreibung vom 15.12.2023" (PDF). §25, E3. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
E3: Bei Schreibung mit Großbuchstaben ist neben der Verwendung des Großbuchstabens ẞ auch die Schreibung SS möglich: Straße – STRAẞE – STRASSE. [When writing with capital letters, in addition to using the capital letter ẞ, the spelling SS is also possible. Example: Straße – STRAẞE – STRASSE.]
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