Æ
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- For the article on Æ, the Irish writer, see: George William Russell
Image:Latin letter Æ.png Image:Arch lit.jpg
Ash (pronounced Template:IPA) is the letter "Æ", "æ", of the Latin alphabet for English. It is formed as a ligature of the letters a and e. In Modern English, usage varies in different places. It is mainly used in words derived from Latin or Greek, such as encyclopædia, nebulæ, and Athenæum. In some places such as the United States, such spellings may be considered archaic and replaced with encyclopedia, nebulae, and Atheneum, respectively. In the United Kingdom, such spellings are more common, leading the Oxford English Dictionary to use the ligature in the main entries, with other spellings listed only as alternatives. In the UK, ae is used in place of æ, so encyclopaedia is correct in the UK. Given the long history of such spellings, they are sometimes used to invoke archaism or in literal quotations of historic sources, for words such as encyclopædia or dæmon. It also belongs to several other modern alphabets. It is common to see it rendered, albeit incorrectly, as "ae", most often by computer users and typewriter users who are unable to render the letter properly due to technological limitations or being unaware of how to do it; a recent example of this is the rendering of the television series/movie title Æon Flux, which often appeared in the media and elsewhere as "Aeon Flux".
In Old English, the a–e ligature was used to denote a sound intermediate between those of a and e (IPA Template:IPA), very much like the short a of cat in many dialects of modern English. The letter was inherited from Latin, but its name ash (in Old English æsc, meaning "ash tree") comes from the corresponding Anglo-Saxon Futhorc rune ᚫ, related to the Elder Futhark rune áss.
In Classical Latin, the combination AE denotes a diphthong (IPA Template:IPA) that had a value similar to the long i in most dialects of modern English. It was used both in native words (spelled with ai before the 2nd century BC) and in borrowings from Greek words having the diphthong αι (alpha iota). Both classical and present practice is to write the letters separately, but the ligature was used in medieval and early modern writings, in part because æ was reduced to a simple long vowel (IPA Template:IPA) in late Latin. In some medieval scripts, the ligature was simplified to ȩ, the letter e with a tail hanging to the left, e-caudata. This form further simplified into a plain e, which may have influenced or been influenced by the pronunciation change.
In the modern French alphabet, it is used to spell Latin borrowings like et cætera, tænia, ex æquo. Image:Oseta latina skribo.jpg In Icelandic, the aesc signifies a diphthong (IPA Template:IPA). In Faroese it represents the ligature of the so-called long æ (IPA Template:IPA), whereas the short æ is a simple Template:IPA. In Danish and Norwegian, æ represents a simple vowel, namely IPA Template:IPA and Template:IPA, respectively. In the southdanish dialect, as well as in several Norwegian dialects, the phoneme Æ has a significant meaning, "I", and is thus a normal spoken word. In some Southern-Jutish dialects Æ is also the definite article: 'Æ hus' (The house). These dialects are rarely committed to writing. The same phoneme is represented in Finnish and Swedish by the letter ä, and in German by a-umlaut (ä).
The Ossetic language used the letter æ when it was written using the Latin script (1923–38). Since then, Ossetian has used a Cyrillic alphabet with an identical-looking letter (Ӕ and ӕ).
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International Phonetic Alphabet
The symbol Template:IPA is also used in the International Phonetic Alphabet to denote the sound of the Old English letter, a near-open front unrounded vowel, as in word cat in many dialects of modern English. In this context, it is always in lowercase.
Computer use
For computers, when using the Latin-1 or Unicode sets, the codes for Æ and æ are respectively 0198 and 0230, as well as 146 and 145, respectively, or C6 and E6 in hexadecimal. The characters can be entered by holding the Alt key while typing in 0198 or 146 on the number pad on Windows systems, or by holding down the option key whilst typing an apostrophe ( ' ) on a Macintosh system under various keyboard layouts, including the U.S. layout.
There is also Cyrillic Ӕ and ӕ in Unicode (U+04D4, U+04D5), though in practice the Latin letters Æ and æ (U+00C6, U+00E6) are used in Cyrillic texts (such as on Ossetian sites in the Internet).
In HTML, the HTML character entity references Æ and æ have been assigned to Æ and æ, respectively, where “lig” stands for ligature.
Æ in art
George William Russell, the fin-de-siècle Irish poet, signed himself Æ, for Æon.
The progressive metal band Tool used an Æ for the title of their third album, Ænima, and the song Ænema from that album. This is similar to the usage of the heavy metal umlaut, but is meant as a combination of anima and enema.
Æ as abbreviation
Æ and æ were quite commonly used as abbreviations for Latin aetate or aetate sua meaning, roughly, "at the age of" N years (the implied contruction being an ablative absolute); also the genitive aetatis suae, Nth year "of his/her age". In inscriptions and records, the most common use is for the age at death.
See also
Reference
- Robert Bringhurst (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style, page 271. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks. ISBN 0-88179-205-5
| Latin alphabet | Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Qq | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz |
|---|---|
| Modified characters | Àà | Áá | Ââ | Ää | Ãã | Āā | Ąą | Ăă | Ǎǎ | Çç | Ĉĉ | Čč | Ćć | Đđ | Ďď | Èè | Éé | Êê | Ëë | Ęę | Ēē | Ĕĕ | Ėė | Ěě | Ĝĝ | Ğğ | Ġġ | Ģģ | Ǧǧ | Ĥĥ | Ħħ | Ìì | Íí | Îî | Ïï | Įį | İı | Ĩĩ | Īī | Ĭĭ | Ĵĵ | Ķķ | Ǩǩ | Ĺĺ | Ļļ | Ľľ | Ŀŀ | Łł | Ńń | Ņņ | Ňň | Òò | Óó | Ôô | Öö | Õõ | Őő | Ǫǫ | Ōō | Ŏŏ | Ơơ | Ŕŕ | Ŗŗ | Řř | Śś | Ŝŝ | Şş | Șș | Šš | Ťť | Ŧŧ | Ţţ | Țț | Ùù | Úú | Ûû | Üü | Ũũ | Ūū | Ŭŭ | Ųų | Ůů | Űű | Ưư | Ŵŵ | Ýý | Ŷŷ | Ÿÿ | Źź | Žž | Żż |
| Alphabet extensions | Ȁȁ | Ȃȃ | Ææ | Ǽǽ | Ǣǣ | Åå | Ċċ | Ðð | DZdz | Dždž | Ɛɛ | Ȅȅ | Ȇȇ | Əə | Ƒƒ | Ǥǥ | Ǧǧ | Ƣƣ | Ƕƕ | IJij | Ǐǐ | Ȉȉ | Ȋȋ | Ǩǩ | ĸ | Ljlj | LLll | ĿLŀl | Ññ | Njnj | Ŋŋ | Œœ | Øø | Ǿǿ | Ǒǒ | Ȍȍ | Ȏȏ | Ɔɔ | Ȣȣ | [[R rotunda|Template:Mufi]] | Ȑȑ | Ȓȓ | ſ | ß | Ʃʃ | Ǔǔ | Ȕȕ | Ȗȗ | Ƿƿ | Ȝȝ | Ȥȥ | Ƶƶ | Ʒʒ | Ǯǯ | Þþ |
| Stylistic variants | Carolingian g | Insular g |
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de:Æ eo:Æ fr:Æ ko:Æ is:Æ la:Æ nl:Æ (ligatuur) ja:Æ no:Æ nn:Æ pl:Æ pt:Æ fi:Æ sv:Æ zh:Æ