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Long s
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Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet
Derived signs, symbols, and abbreviations
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the nineteenth letter of the alphabet. For other uses, see S
(disambiguation). "Ess" redirects here. For other uses, see Ess (disambiguation).

For technical reasons, "S#", "ſ", and "S#arp" redirects here. For their respective
articles, see S# (programming language), Long s, and S#arp (band).

Ss

Usage

Writing Latin script

system

Type Alphabetic and logographic

Language Latin language
of origin

Sound /s/
/z/
values
/ʃ/
/θ/
/ts/
/ʒ/
/ɛs/

In Unicode U+0053, U+0073

Alphabetic 19
al position

History

Developme
nt

●
●
●
●

●
●
●
Time c. 700 BCE to present
period

Descendan ſ
ß
ts
Ƨ
Ꞅ
$
₷
§
℠
ᛋ
∫

Sisters Ѕѕ
Сс
Шш
Щщ
Ҫҫ
Ԍԍ
‫ש‬
‫ش‬
‫ܫ‬
‫س‬
ࠔ
𐎘
𐡔
ሠ
ㅅ (disputed)
Սս
श
स
શ
સ

Variations ſ

Other

Associated s(x), sh, sz

graphs
 Writing Left-to-right
direction

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an
introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For
the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA §
Brackets and transcription delimiters.

ISO basic

Latin alphabet

AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjK
kLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTt
UuVvWwXxYyZz

● V
● T
● E

S, or s, is the nineteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet,
the alphabets of other western European languages and other latin alphabets
[a] ⓘ [1]
worldwide. Its name in English is ess (pronounced /ˈɛs/ ), plural esses.

History
Further information: Shin (letter), Sigma, San (letter), and Sho (letter)

Proto- Phoenician Western Etruscan Latin

Sinaitic Greek

Shin S S
Shin Sigma

Northwest Semitic šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ (as in 'ship').
It originated most likely as a pictogram of a tooth (‫ )שנא‬and represented the
[2]
phoneme /ʃ/ via the acrophonic principle.

Ancient Greek did not have a /ʃ/ "sh" phoneme, so the derived Greek letter Sigma (Σ)
came to represent the voiceless alveolar sibilant /s/. While the letter shape Σ
continues Phoenician šîn, its name sigma is taken from the letter Samekh, while the
[citation needed]
shape and position of samekh but name of šîn is continued in the xi.
Within Greek, the name of sigma was influenced by its association with the Greek
word σίζω (earlier *sigj-), "to hiss". The original name of the letter "Sigma" may have
been san, but due to the early history of the Greek epichoric alphabets, "san" came
[3]
to be identified as a separate letter, Ϻ. Herodotus reported that "san" was the
[4]
name given by the Dorians to the same letter called "Sigma" by the Ionians.

The Western Greek alphabet used in Cumae was adopted by the Etruscans and
Latins in the 7th century BC, and over the following centuries, it developed into a
range of Old Italic alphabets, including the Etruscan alphabet and the early Latin
alphabet. In Etruscan, the value /s/ of Greek sigma (𐌔) was maintained, while san (𐌑)
represented a separate phoneme, most likely /ʃ/ "sh" (transliterated as ś). The early
Latin alphabet adopted sigma, but not san, as Old Latin did not have a /ʃ/ "sh"
phoneme.

The shape of Latin S arises from Greek Σ by dropping one out of the four strokes of
that letter. The (angular) S-shape composed of three strokes existed as a variant of
the four-stroke letter Σ already in the epigraphy of Western Greek alphabets, and the
three and four strokes variants existed alongside one another in the classical
Etruscan alphabet. In other Italic alphabets (Venetic, Lepontic), the letter could be
represented as a zig-zagging line of any number between three and six strokes. The

Italic letter was also adopted into Elder Futhark, as Sowilō (ᛊ), and appears with four

to eight strokes in the earliest runic inscriptions, but is occasionally reduced to three

strokes (ᛋ) from the later 5th century, and appears regularly with three strokes in

Younger Futhark.

The ⟨sh⟩ digraph for English /ʃ/ arose in Middle English (alongside ⟨sch⟩), replacing

the Old English ⟨sc⟩ digraph. Similarly, Old High German ⟨sc⟩ was replaced by ⟨sch⟩ in

Early Modern High German orthography.

Long s

Late medieval German script (Swabian bastarda, dated 1496) illustrating the use of long and
round s: prieſters tochter ("priest's daughter").

Main article: Long s

The minuscule form ſ, called the long s, developed in the early medieval period,
within the Visigothic and Carolingian hands, with predecessors in the half-uncia