Analogical after the other names of vowel letters in the Roman alphabet.Thisetymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Despite being part of the Finnish alphabet, the letter is only used in Scandinavian names. As a result, it is often seen as a symbol of the Swedish language (which is also an official language in Finland,although not without controversy).
Mooring uses the single letter ⟨o⟩ chiefly for unstressed[o]. An exception is the sequence ⟨or⟩, however, which in contemporary pronunciation is realized identically to ⟨år⟩.
Long ⟨åå⟩ when followed by ⟨g⟩ is often pronounced[aʊ̯] instead of[ɔː].
Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two As,Aa (this spelling can still be seen in some proper names, and in digital media, such as urls or e-mails, due to using a keyboard where the letter doesn't exist or for fear ofmojibake). The two As were originally a new form of the Old Norseá, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually, it turned into the modern å-sound and theAa was eventually replaced with Å.
Before the letter's introduction in 1917, the sound it represents today (similar to the "a" in "all") was written with two A's,Aa (this spelling can still be seen in names and toponyms). The two A's was originally a new form of the Old Norseá, whose representation was a long open a-sound (similar to the "a" in "father"). Gradually it turned into the modern å-sound and theAa was eventually replaced with Å. Today, the letterå may be used without having the etymological correspondence withá.
The letterå oraa in the Norwegian runic inscriptions from 17-19 centuries is usually written asᛆᛆ.
Kenda-Jež, Karmen (27 February 2017),Fonetična trankripcija [Phonetic transcription][2] (in Slovene), Znanstvenoraziskovalni centerSAZU, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, archived fromthe original on22 January 2022, pages27–30
Watercourses in Sweden and the other Nordic countries are in Swedish usually referred to asbäck,å orälv. Anå is usually larger than abäck(“brook, creek”) but smaller than anälv(“large river”). A certain largebäck may however be larger than a certain smallå, and a certain largeå may be larger than a certain smallälv. The word to use about a certain watercourse is often included as part of its name:Götaälv,Stångån. There are regional differences in whether watercourses of a certain size tend to haveå orälv in their names. Allälvar are found north of Gothenburg, but that is also where the largest rivers in Scandinavia are found. For some rivers in southern Sweden the wordström is used, since that is the watercourse word included in their names. Rivers in other parts of the world are usually referred to with the wordflod, which is a more neutral word for any watercourse larger than abäck.
