Editing S (section)

==History==
{{Further|Shin (letter)|Sigma|San (letter)|Sho (letter)}}
{| class="wikitable"
! Proto-Sinaitic<br />[[Shin (letter)|Shin]]
! Phoenician<br />[[Shin (letter)|Shin]]
! Western Greek<br />[[Sigma]]
! Etruscan<br />S
! Latin<br />S
|--- align=center
| [[File:Proto-semiticS-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|50px]]
| [[File:PhoenicianS-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|50px]]
| [[File:Greek Sigma normal.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x30px]]
| [[File:EtruscanS-02.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x30px]]
| [[File:Capitalis monumentalis S.SVG|class=skin-invert-image|x30px]]
|}
[[Northwest Semitic abjad|Northwest Semitic]] [[Shin (letter)|šîn]] represented a [[voiceless postalveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʃ/}} (as in '{{em|sh}}ip'). It originated most likely as a [[pictogram]] of a [[tooth]] ({{lang|sem|[[:wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Semitic/šinn-|שנא]]}}) and represented the phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}} via the acrophonic principle.<ref>"corresponds etymologically (in part, at least) to original Semitic ''ṯ'' (th), which was pronounced ''s'' in South Canaanite"  Albright, W. F., "The Early Alphabetic Inscriptions from Sinai and their Decipherment," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 110 (1948), p. 15. The interpretation as "tooth" is now prevalent, but not entirely certain. The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' of 1972 reported that the letter represented a "composite bow".</ref>

[[Ancient Greek]] did not have a  {{IPA|/ʃ/}} "sh" phoneme, so the derived Greek letter [[Sigma (letter)|Sigma]] ({{lang|grc|Σ}}) came to represent the [[voiceless alveolar sibilant]] {{IPA|/s/}}. While the letter shape Σ continues Phoenician ''šîn'', its name ''sigma'' is taken from the letter ''[[Samekh]]'', while the shape and position of ''samekh'' but name of ''šîn'' is continued in the ''[[Ξ|xi]]''.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Within Greek, the name of ''sigma'' was influenced by its association with the Greek word {{lang|grc|σίζω}} (earlier {{Transliteration|grc|*sigj-}}), "to hiss". The original name of the letter "Sigma" may have been ''san'', but due to the early history of the Greek [[Archaic Greek alphabets|epichoric alphabets]], "san" came to be identified as a separate letter, [[San (letter)|Ϻ]].<ref>Woodard, Roger D. (2006). "Alphabet". In Wilson, Nigel Guy. Encyclopedia of ancient Greece. London: Routldedge. p. 38.</ref> [[Herodotus]] reported that "san" was the name given by the [[Doric Greek|Dorians]] to the same letter called "Sigma" by the [[Ionic Greek|Ionians]].<ref>"{{lang|grc|...τὠυτὸ γράμμα, τὸ Δωριέες μὲν σὰν καλέουσι ,Ἴωνες δὲ σίγμα}}" ('...the same letter, which the Dorians call "San", but the Ionians "Sigma"...'; Herodotus, ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'' 1.139); cf. Nick Nicholas, [http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html ''Non-Attic letters''] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120628161421/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/nonattic.html |date=2012-06-28 }}.</ref>

The [[Western Greek alphabet]] used in [[Cumae]] was adopted by the [[Etruscans]] and [[Latins (Italic tribe)|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 language|Etruscan]], the value {{IPA|/s/}} of Greek sigma (𐌔) was maintained, while san (𐌑) represented a separate phoneme, most likely {{IPA|/ʃ/}} "sh" (transliterated as ''ś''). The early Latin alphabet adopted sigma, but not san, as Old Latin did not have a {{IPA|/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 [[Archaic Greek alphabets|Western Greek alphabets]], and the three and four strokes variants existed alongside one another in the classical Etruscan alphabet. In other [[Old Italic script|Italic alphabets]] ([[Venetic language|Venetic]], [[Lepontic language|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]]'' ({{script|Runr|ᛊ}}), and appears with four to eight strokes in the earliest runic inscriptions, but is occasionally reduced to three strokes ({{script|Runr|ᛋ}}) from the later 5th century, and appears regularly with three strokes in [[Younger Futhark]].

The [[Sh (digraph)|{{angbr|sh}} digraph]] for English  {{IPA|/ʃ/}} arose in Middle English (alongside [[Sch (trigraph)|{{angbr|sch}}]]), replacing the Old English {{angbr|sc}} digraph. Similarly, Old High German {{angbr|sc}} was replaced by {{angbr|sch}} in Early Modern High German orthography.

===Long s===
[[File:Schwäbische Bastarda 1496 Schriftprobe Priesters Tochter.png|thumb|Late medieval German script (Swabian [[bastarda]], dated 1496) illustrating the use of long and round ''s'': ''prieſters tochter'' ("priest's daughter").]]
{{main|Long s}}

The [[lower case|minuscule form]]  ſ, called the [[long s|long ''s'']], developed in the early medieval period, within the [[Visigothic script|Visigothic]] and [[Carolingian minuscule|Carolingian]] hands, with predecessors in the [[half-uncial]] and [[Roman cursive|cursive]] scripts of [[Late Antiquity]]. It remained standard in western writing throughout the medieval period and was adopted in early printing with movable types. It existed alongside minuscule "round" or "short" ''s'', which were at the time only used at the end of words.

In most Western orthographies, the ſ gradually fell out of use during the second half of the 18th century, although it remained in occasional use into the 19th century. In Spain, the change was mainly accomplished between 1760 and 1766. In France, the change occurred between 1782 and 1793. Printers in the United States stopped using the long ''s'' between 1795 and 1810. In English orthography, the London printer [[John Bell (publisher)|John Bell]] (1745–1831) pioneered the change. His edition of Shakespeare, in 1785, was advertised with the claim that he "ventured to depart from the common mode by rejecting the long 'ſ' in favor of the round one, as being less liable to error....."<ref>Stanley Morison, ''A Memoir of John Bell, 1745–1831'' (1930, Cambridge Univ. Press) page 105; Daniel Berkeley Updike, ''Printing Types, Their History, Forms, and Use – a study in survivals'' (2nd. ed, 1951, [[Harvard University Press]]) page 293.</ref> [[The Times|''The Times'' of London]] made the switch from the long to the short ''s'' with its issue of 10 September 1803. [[History of the Encyclopædia Britannica|''Encyclopædia Britannica'']]'s 5th edition, completed in 1817, was the last edition to use the long ''s''.

In [[German orthography]], long ''s'' was retained in [[Fraktur]] ([[Schwabacher]]) type as well as in standard cursive ([[Sütterlin]]) well into the 20th century, until official use of that typeface was abolished in 1941.<ref>
[[:File:Schrifterlass Antiqua1941.gif|Order]] of 3 January  1941 to all public offices, signed by [[Martin Bormann]].
{{cite book |first=Albert |last=Kapr |title=Fraktur: Form und Geschichte der gebrochenen Schriften |location=Mainz |publisher=H. Schmidt |year=1993 |page=81 |isbn=3-87439-260-0 }}</ref> The [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] of ''ſs'' (or ''ſz'') was retained; however, it gave rise to the [[Eszett]] {{angbr|[[ß]]}} in contemporary German orthography.