Letter of the Latin alphabet; used in the German language
This article is about the German eszett and is not to be confused withB.For the Greek letter that looks similar, seeBeta. For the Chinese radical, see阝. For the Malayalam script, seeBha (Indic) § Malayalam Bha.
Variant forms ofEszett (from top-left to bottom-right):Cambria (2004),Lucida Sans (1985),Theuerdank blackletter (1933, based on a 1517 type), handwrittenKurrent (1865)
InGerman orthography, the letterß, calledEszett (IPA:[ɛsˈtsɛt], S-Z) orscharfes S (IPA:[ˌʃaʁfəsˈʔɛs], "sharp S"), represents the/s/ phoneme inStandard German when followinglong vowels anddiphthongs. The letter-nameEszett combines thenames of the letters of⟨s⟩ (Es) and⟨z⟩ (Zett) in German. The character'sUnicode names in English aredouble s,[1]sharp s[2] andeszett.[2] TheEszett letter is currently used only inGerman, 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 withss in the spelling ofSwiss Standard German (Switzerland andLiechtenstein), while remainingStandard German spelling in other varieties of the German language.[3]
The letter originated as the⟨sz⟩digraph used inlate medieval and early modern German orthography, represented as aligature of⟨ſ⟩ (long s) and⟨ʒ⟩ (tailed z) inblackletter typefaces, yielding⟨ſʒ⟩.[a] This developed from an earlier usage of⟨z⟩ inOld andMiddle High German to represent asibilant 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⟩. Sometype designers introduced capitalized variants. In 2017, theCouncil 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]
when it is written after adiphthong orlong vowel and is not followed by another consonant in theword stem:Straße,Maß,groß,heißen [Exceptions:aus and words withfinal devoicing (e.g.,Haus)];[6] and
when a word stem ending with⟨ß⟩ takes aninflectional ending beginning with a consonant:heißt,größte.[7]
In verbs with roots where the vowel changes length, this means that some forms may be written with⟨ß⟩, others with⟨ss⟩:wissen,er weiß,er wusste.[6]
The use of⟨ß⟩ distinguishesminimal pairs such asreißen (IPA:[ˈʁaɪsn̩], to rip) andreisen (IPA:[ˈʁaɪzn̩], to travel) on the one hand ([s] vs.[z]), andBuße (IPA:[ˈbuːsə], penance) andBusse (IPA:[ˈbʊsə], buses) on the other (long vowel before⟨ß⟩, short vowel before⟨ss⟩).[8]: 123
Some proper names may use⟨ß⟩ after a short vowel, following older orthography; this is also true of some words derived from proper names (e.g.,Litfaßsäule;advertising column, named afterErnst Litfaß).[9]: 180
If no⟨ß⟩ is available in a font, then the official orthography calls for⟨ß⟩ to be replaced with⟨ss⟩.[10] Since 2024, when writing in capital letters,⟨ẞ⟩ has been preferred, but⟨SS⟩ may be used instead.[5] Previously,⟨SS⟩ was the preferred form.[11][12]
word internally following a long vowel or diphthong:Straße,reißen; and
at the end of a syllable or before a consonant, so long as[s] is the end of the word stem:muß,faßt,wäßrig.[9]: 176
In the old orthography,word stems spelled⟨ss⟩ internally could thus be written⟨ß⟩ in certain instances, without this reflecting a change in vowel length:küßt (fromküssen),faßt (fromfassen),verläßlich andVerlaß (fromverlassen),kraß (comparative:krasser).[8]: 121–23 [13] In rare occasions, the difference between⟨ß⟩ and⟨ss⟩ could help differentiate words:Paßende (expiration of a pass) andpassende (appropriate).[9]: 178
Capitalization as SZ on aBundeswehr crate (ABSCHUSZGERAET for the pre-reform spellingAbschußgerät 'launcher')
As in the new orthography, it was possible to write⟨ss⟩ for⟨ß⟩ if the character was not available. When using all capital letters, the pre-1996 rules called for rendering⟨ß⟩ as⟨SS⟩ except when there was ambiguity, in which case it should be rendered as⟨SZ⟩. The common example for such a case isIN MASZEN (in Maßen "in moderate amounts") vs.IN MASSEN (in Massen "in massive amounts"); in this example the spelling difference between⟨ß⟩ vs.⟨ss⟩ produces completely different meanings.[citation needed]
InSwiss Standard German,⟨ss⟩ usually replaces every⟨ß⟩.[14][15] This is officially sanctioned by the reformed German orthography rules, which state in §25 E2: "In der Schweiz kann man immer „ss“ schreiben" ("InSwitzerland, one may always write 'ss'").Liechtenstein follows the same practice. There are very few instances where the difference between spelling⟨ß⟩ and⟨ss⟩ affects the meaning of a word, and these can usually be told apart by context.[16]: 230 [17]
Use of ß (blackletter 'ſz') inSorbian:wyßokoſcʒ́i ("highest", now spelledwysokosći). Text ofLuke 2:14, in a church inOßling.Use of ß inPolish, in 1599Jakub Wujek Bible, in the wordnáßéy, which meansour, and would be spellednaszej in modern orthography
Occasionally,⟨ß⟩ has been used in unusual ways:
As the Greek lowercase⟨β⟩ (beta). The original IBM PCCP437 contains a glyph that minimizes their differences placed between⟨α⟩ (alpha) and⟨γ⟩ (gamma) but named "Sharp s Small".[18] Substitution was also done using other character sets such asISO/IEC 8859-1 even though they contain no other Greek letters. The lowercase eszett has also been misused as⟨β⟩ in scientific writing and vice versa.[19]
As a result of theHigh German consonant shift,Old High German developed a sound generally spelled⟨zz⟩ or⟨z⟩ that was probably pronounced[s] and was contrasted with a sound, probably pronounced[s̠] (voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant) or[z̠] (voiced alveolar retracted sibilant), depending on the place in the word, and spelled⟨s⟩.[26] Given that⟨z⟩ could also represent theaffricate[ts], some attempts were made to differentiate the sounds by spelling[s] as⟨zss⟩ or⟨zs⟩:wazssar (German:Wasser),fuozssi (German:Füße),heizsit (German:heißt).[27] InMiddle High German,⟨zz⟩ simplified to⟨z⟩ at the end of a word or after a long vowel, but was retained word internally after a short vowel:wazzer (German:Wasser) vs.lâzen (German:lassen) andfuoz (German:Fuß).[28]
Use of the late medieval ligature⟨ſz⟩ inUlrich Füetrer'sBuch der Abenteuer: "uſz" (modern Germanaus)
In the thirteenth century, the phonetic difference between⟨z⟩ and⟨s⟩ was lost at the beginning and end of words in all dialects except forGottscheerish.[26] Word-internally, Old and Middle High German⟨s⟩ came to be pronounced[z] (thevoiced alveolar sibilant), while Old and Middle High German⟨z⟩ continued to be pronounced[s]. This produces the contrast between modern standard Germanreisen andreißen. The former is pronouncedIPA:[ˈʁaɪzn̩] and comes fromMiddle High German:reisen, while the latter is pronouncedIPA:[ˈʁaɪsn̩] and comes fromMiddle High German:reizen.[29]
In the late medieval and early modern periods,[s] was frequently spelled⟨sz⟩ or⟨ss⟩. The earliest appearance ofligature resembling the modern⟨ß⟩ is in a fragment of amanuscript of the poemWolfdietrich from around 1300.[16]: 214 [29] In the Gothicbook hands andbastarda scripts of thelate medieval period,⟨sz⟩ is written withlong s and the Blackletter "tailed z", as⟨ſʒ⟩. A recognizableligature representing the⟨sz⟩ digraph develops in handwriting in the early 14th century.[30]: 67–76
An early modern printed rhyme byHans Sachs showing several instances of ß as a clear ligature of⟨ſz⟩: "groß", "stoß", "Laß", "baß" (= modern "besser"), and "Faß"
By the late 1400s, the choice of spelling between⟨sz⟩ and⟨ss⟩ was usually based on the sound's position in the word rather than etymology:⟨sz⟩ (⟨ſz⟩) tended to be used in word final position:uſz (Middle High German:ûz,German:aus),-nüſz (Middle High German:-nüss(e),German:-nis);⟨ss⟩ (⟨ſſ⟩) tended to be used when the sound occurred between vowels:groſſes (Middle High German:grôzes,German:großes).[31]: 171 WhileMartin Luther's early 16th-century printings also contain spellings such asheyße (German:heiße), early modern printers mostly changed these to⟨ſſ⟩:heiſſe. Around the same time, printers began to systematically distinguish betweendas (the, that [pronoun]) anddaß (that [conjunction]).[31]: 215
In modern German, the Old and Middle High German⟨z⟩ is now represented by either⟨ss⟩,⟨ß⟩, or, if there are no related forms in which[s] occurs intervocalically, with⟨s⟩:messen (Middle High German:mezzen),Straße (Middle High German:strâze), andwas (Middle High German:waz).[28]
The pre-1996 German use of⟨ß⟩ was codified by the eighteenth-century grammariansJohann Christoph Gottsched (1748) andJohann Christoph Adelung (1793) and made official for all German-speaking countries by theGerman Orthographic Conference of 1901. In this orthography, the use of⟨ß⟩ was modeled after the use oflong and "round"-s in Fraktur.⟨ß⟩ appeared both word internally after long vowels and also in those positions where Fraktur required the second s to be a "round" or "final" s, namely the ends of syllables or the ends of words.[16]: 217–18 In hisDeutsches Wörterbuch (1854)Jacob Grimm called for⟨ß⟩ or⟨sz⟩ to be written for all instances of Middle and Old High German etymological⟨z⟩ (e.g.,eß instead ofes fromMiddle High German:ez); however, his etymological proposal could not overcome established usage.[31]: 269
InAustria-Hungary prior to the German Orthographic Conference of 1902, an alternative rule formulated byJohann Christian August Heyse in 1829 had been officially taught in the schools since 1879, although this spelling was not widely used. Heyse's rule matches current usage after theGerman orthography reform of 1996 in that⟨ß⟩ was only used after long vowels.[16]: 219
Theſs ligature used for Latin in 16th-century printing (utiliſsimæ)Essen with ſs-ligature readsEßen (LatinBlaeu atlas, text printed in Antiqua, 1650s).French usage as a ligature for ⟨ss⟩ in 1784 fromGallerie des Modes
In early modern Latin type (antiqua), a ligature similar to modern⟨ß⟩ developed out of a long s followed by a round s (⟨ſs⟩), and as such was used in languages such as Italian in alternation with⟨ſſ⟩, usually based on requirements of space on the page.[32]: 76 However, despite its resemblance to the modern⟨ß⟩, this ligature was not commonly used as an equivalent to the Fraktur⟨sz⟩ in German.[33][34] This ligature generally fell out of use in the eighteenth century, together with the use of long s in antiqua.[30]: 73 German works printed in Roman type in the late 18th and early 19th centuries such asJohann Gottlieb Fichte'sWissenschaftslehre did not provide any equivalent to the⟨ß⟩.[30]: 74
Jacob Grimm began using⟨ß⟩ in hisDeutsche Grammatik (1819); however, it varied with⟨ſſ⟩ word internally.[30]: 74 Grimm eventually rejected the use of the character; in theirDeutsches Wörterbuch (1838), theBrothers Grimm favored writing it as⟨sz⟩.[34]: 2 TheFirst Orthographic Conference in Berlin (1876) recommended thatß be represented as⟨ſs⟩ – however, both suggestions were ultimately rejected.[31]: 269 [16]: 222 In 1879, a proposal for various letter forms was published in theJournal für Buchdruckerkunst. A committee of theTypographic Society of Leipzig chose the "Sulzbacher form". In 1903, it was proclaimed as the new standard for the Eszett in Roman type.[34]: 3–5
Until the abolition of Fraktur in 1941, it was common forfamily names to be written with⟨ß⟩ in Fraktur and⟨ss⟩ in Roman type. The formal abolition resulted in inconsistencies in how names are written in modern German (such as between Heuss and Heuß).[9]: 176
The Swiss and Liechtensteiners ceased to use⟨ß⟩ in the twentieth century. This has been explained variously by the early adoption of Roman type in Switzerland, the use oftypewriters in Switzerland that omitted⟨ß⟩ in favor of French and Italian characters, and peculiarities ofSwiss German that cause words spelled with⟨ß⟩ or⟨ss⟩ to be pronounced withgemination.[16]: 221–22 The Education Council ofZürich had decided to stop teaching the letter in 1935, whereas theNeue Zürcher Zeitung continued to write⟨ß⟩ until 1971.[35] Swiss newspapers continued to print in Fraktur until the end of the 1940s, and the abandonment of ß by most newspapers corresponded to them switching to Roman typesetting.[36]
When the Nazi German government abolished the use of blackletter typesetting in 1941, it was originally planned to also abolish the use of⟨ß⟩. However, Hitler intervened to retain⟨ß⟩, while deciding against the creation of a capital form.[37] In 1954, a group of reformers inWest Germany similarly proposed, among other changes to German spelling, the abolition of⟨ß⟩; their proposals were publicly opposed by German-language writersThomas Mann,Hermann Hesse, andFriedrich Dürrenmatt and were never implemented.[38] Although the German Orthography Reform of 1996 reduced the use of⟨ß⟩ in standard German, Adrienne Walder writes that an abolition outside of Switzerland appears unlikely.[16]: 235
Uppercase ß on a book cover from 1957Logo ofGießener Zeitung [de] ("GIEẞENER ZEITUNG", 2008 design)Street sign withVersal-Eszett ("MÜHLFELDSTRAẞE") inHeiligkreuzsteinach (2011 photograph)
Because⟨ß⟩ had been treated as a ligature, rather than as a full letter of the German alphabet, it had no capital form in early modern typesetting. Moreover,allcaps was not normally used in Fraktur printing.[4] There were, however, proposals to introduce capital forms of⟨ß⟩ for use in allcaps writing (where⟨ß⟩ would otherwise usually be represented as either⟨SS⟩ or⟨SZ⟩). A capital was first seriously proposed in 1879, but did not enter official or widespread use.[39] The Orthographic Conference of 1903 called for the use of⟨SZ⟩ in allcaps until a capital letter could be proposed.[4] Historical typefaces offering a capitalizedeszett mostly date to the time between 1905 and 1930. The first known typefaces to include capitaleszett were produced by theSchelter & Giesecke foundry in Leipzig, in 1905/06.Schelter & Giesecke at the time widely advocated the use of this type, but its use nevertheless remained very limited.
The preface to the 1925 edition of theDuden dictionary expressed the desirability of a separate glyph for capital⟨ß⟩:
Die Verwendung zweier Buchstaben für einen Laut ist nur ein Notbehelf, der aufhören muss, sobald ein geeigneter Druckbuchstabe für das große ß geschaffen ist.[40]
The use of two letters for a single phoneme is makeshift, to be abandoned as soon as a suitable type for the capital ß has been developed.
TheDuden was edited separately inEast andWest Germany during the 1950s to 1980s. The East GermanDuden of 1957 (15th ed.) introduced a capital⟨ß⟩ in its typesetting without revising the rule for capitalization. The 16th edition of 1969 still announced that an uppercase⟨ß⟩ was in development and would be introduced in the future. The 1984 edition again removed this announcement and simply stated that there is no capital version of⟨ß⟩.[41]
In the 2000s, there were renewed efforts on the part of certaintypographers to introduce a capital,⟨ẞ⟩. A proposal to include a corresponding character in theUnicode set submitted in 2004[42] was rejected.[43][44] A second proposal submitted in 2007 was successful, and the character was included in Unicode version 5.1.0 in April 2008 (U+1E9EẞLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S).[45] The international standard associated with Unicode (UCS),ISO/IEC 10646, was updated to reflect the addition on 24 June 2008. The capital letter was finally adopted as an option in standard German orthography in 2017.[11] Since 2024,⟨ẞ⟩ has been the preferred option for depicting the character in capital letters, with⟨SS⟩ as a second option.[5]
The recommendation of theSulzbacher form (1903) was not followed universally in 20th-century printing. There were four distinct variants of⟨ß⟩ in use in Antiqua fonts:
Four forms of Antiqua Eszett: 1. ſs, 2. ſs ligature, 3. ſʒ ligature, 4. Sulzbacher form
⟨ſs⟩ without ligature, but as a single type, with reduced spacing between the two letters;
the ligature of⟨ſ⟩ and⟨s⟩ inherited from the 16th-century Antiqua typefaces;
a ligature of⟨ſ⟩ and⟨ʒ⟩, adapting the blackletter ligature to Antiqua; and
the Sulzbacher form.
The first variant (no ligature) has become practically obsolete. Most modern typefaces follow either 2 or 4, with 3 retained in occasional usage, notably in street signs in Bonn and Berlin. The design of modern⟨ß⟩ tends to follow either the Sulzbacher form, in which⟨ʒ⟩ (tailed z) is clearly visible, or else be made up of a clear ligature of⟨ſ⟩ and⟨s⟩.[34]: 2
Three contemporary handwritten forms of 'ß' demonstrated in the wordaß,"(I/he/she/it) ate"
Two distinct blackletter typefaces inMainz. The red sign spellsStraße withſs; the blue sign uses the standard blackletterſʒ ligature.
Capital ß in a web application
The inclusion of a capital⟨ẞ⟩ inUnicode in 2008 revived the century-old debate amongtypeface designers as to how such a character should be represented. The main difference in the shapes of⟨ẞ⟩ in contemporary typefaces is the depiction with a diagonal straight line vs. a curved line in its upper right part, reminiscent of the ligature oftailed z or ofround s, respectively. The code chart published by the Unicode Consortium favours the former possibility,[46] which has been adopted by Unicode capable fonts includingArial,Calibri,Cambria,Courier New,DejaVu Serif,Liberation Sans,Liberation Mono,Linux Libertine andTimes New Roman; the second possibility is more rare, adopted byDejaVu Sans. Some fonts adopt a third possibility in representing⟨ẞ⟩ following the Sulzbacher form of⟨ß⟩, reminiscent of the Greek⟨β⟩ (beta); such a shape has been adopted byFreeSans andFreeSerif,Liberation Serif andVerdana.[47]
U+00DFßLATIN SMALL LETTER SHARP S (ß) (HTML entity defined in 1995)
U+1E9EẞLATIN CAPITAL LETTER SHARP S (introduced in 2008)
In modern browsers, lowercase "ß" will be converted to "SS" when the element containing it is set to uppercase usingtext-transform: uppercase inCascading Style Sheets. TheJavaScript inGoogle Chrome andMozilla Firefox will convert "ß" to "SS" when converted to uppercase (e.g.,"ß".toUpperCase()).[48]
The lower-case letter exists in many earlier encodings that covered European languages. In severalISO 8859[b] andWindows[c] encodings it is at0xDF, the value inherited by Unicode. InDOS code pages[d] it is at0xE1.Mac OS encodings[e] put it at0xA7. SomeEBCDIC codes[f] put it at0x59. The upper-case form was rarely, if ever, encoded in single-byte encodings.
^The IPA symbolezh (ʒ) somewhat resembles the Blackletter z () and is used in this article for convenience despite its technical inaccuracy. The preferred form of transcription by Unicode is the "hooked z" (ȥ), a toned-down version of the tailed z in 19th-century printed texts.
^abAugst, Gerhard; Stock, Eberhard (1997). "Laut-Buchstaben-Zuordnung". In Augst, Gerhard; et al. (eds.).Zur Neuregelung der deutschen Rechtschreibung: Begründung und Kritik. Max Niemeyer.ISBN3-484-31179-7.
^abcdPoschenrieder, Thorwald (1997). "S-Schreibung - Überlieferung oder Reform?". In Eroms, Hans-Werner; Munske, Horst Haider (eds.).Die Rechtschreibreform: Pro und Kontra. Erich Schmidt.ISBN3-50303786-1.
^abcdefgWalder, Adrienne (2020). "Das versale Eszett: Ein neuer Buchstabe im deutschen Alphabet".Zeitschrift für Germanitische Linguistik.48 (2):211–237.doi:10.1515/zgl-2020-2001.S2CID225226660.
^Zinkevičius, Zigmas (1996).The History of the Lithuanian Language. Vilnius: Science and Encyclopedia Publishers. p. 230-236.ISBN9785420013632.
^Black, J.A.; Cunningham, G.; Fluckiger-Hawker, E.; Robson, E.; Zólyomi, G. (1998–2021)."ETCSL display conventions".The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature. Oxford University. Retrieved11 April 2021.
^For exampleSsein, ja ßein soll es ßie, ßie, ßie! inMay, Karl (1886–1888).Der Weg zum Glück.
^abSalmons, Joseph (2018).A History of German: What the past reveals about today's language (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 203.ISBN978-0-19-872302-8.
^Braune, Wilhelm (2004).Althochdeutsche Grammatik I. Max Niemeyer. p. 152.ISBN3-484-10861-4.
^abPaul, Hermann (1998).Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik (24 ed.). Max Niemeyer. p. 163.ISBN3-484-10233-0.
^abPenzl, Herbert (1968). "Die mittelhochdeutschen Sibilanten und ihre Weiterentwicklung".Word.24 (1–3): 344, 348.doi:10.1080/00437956.1968.11435536.
^abcdBrekle, Herbert E. (2001). "Zur handschriftlichen und typographischen Geschichte der Buchstabenligatur ß aus gotisch-deutschen und humanistisch-italienischen Kontexten".Gutenberg-Jahrbuch.76. Mainz.ISSN0072-9094.
^abcdYoung, Christopher; Gloning, Thomas (2004).A History of the German Language Through Texts. Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-86263-9.
^Michel, Andreas (2012). "Italian orthography in Early Modern times". In Baddeley, Susan; Voeste, Anja (eds.).Orthographies in Early Modern Europe. de Gruyter Mouton. pp. 63–96.doi:10.1515/9783110288179.63.ISBN978-3-11-028817-9.
^Mosley, James (2008-01-31),"Esszet or ß",Typefoundry, retrieved2019-05-05
^abcdJamra, Mark (2006),"The Eszett",TypeCulture, retrieved2019-05-05
^Ammon, Ulrich (1995).Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: das Problem der nationalen Varietäten. de Gruyter. p. 254.ISBN9783110147537.
^Gallmann, Paul (1997)."Warum die Schweizer weiterhin kein Eszett schreiben"(PDF). In Augst, Gerhard; Blüml, Karl; Nerius, Dieter; Sitta, Horst (eds.).Die Neuregelung der deutschenRechtschreibung. Begründung und Kritik. Max Niemeyer. pp. 135–140.
^Schreiben des Reichsministers und Chefs der Reichskanzlei an den Reichsminister des Innern vom 20. Juli 1941. BA, Potsdam, R 1501, Nr. 27180. cited in: Der Schriftstreit von 1881 bis 1941 von Silvia Hartman, Peter Lang Verlag.ISBN978-3-631-33050-0
^Kranz, Florian (1998).Eine Schifffahrt mit drei f: Positives zur Rechtschreibreform. Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. pp. 30–31.ISBN3-525-34005-2.
^"Archive of Notices of Non-Approval".Unicode Consortium. Retrieved2021-06-25.2004-Nov-18, rejected by the UTC as a typographical issue, inappropriate for encoding as a separate character. Rejected also on the grounds that it would cause casing implementation issues for legacy German data.
