Editing SS (section)

== History ==
===Origin and development===
[[File:Nibelungenlied manuscript - “grozer”.jpg|thumb|Use of [[Middle High German]] letter "z" for modern "ß" in the beginning of the [[Nibelungenlied]]: "grozer" = "großer"]]

As a result of the [[High German consonant shift]], [[Old High German]] developed a sound generally spelled {{angbr|zz}} or {{angbr|z}} that was probably pronounced {{IPA|[s]}} and was contrasted with a sound, probably pronounced {{IPA|[⁠s̠]}} ([[voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant]]) or {{IPA|[z̠]}} ([[voiced alveolar retracted sibilant]]), depending on the place in the word, and spelled {{angbr|s}}.<ref name="Salmons-2018">{{cite book |last=Salmons |first=Joseph |title=A History of German: What the past reveals about today's language |edition=2 |year=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-872302-8|page=203}}</ref> Given that {{angbr|z}} could also represent the [[affricate]] {{IPA|[ts]}}, some attempts were made to differentiate the sounds by spelling {{IPA|[s]}} as {{angbr|zss}} or {{angbr|zs}}: {{lang|goh|wazssar}} ({{langx|de|Wasser}}), {{lang|goh|fuozssi}} ({{langx|de|Füße}}), {{lang|goh|heizsit}} ({{langx|de|heißt}}).<ref>{{cite book|last=Braune |first=Wilhelm |title=Althochdeutsche Grammatik I |publisher=Max Niemeyer |year=2004 |isbn=3-484-10861-4 |page=152}}</ref> In [[Middle High German]], {{angbr|zz}} simplified to {{angbr|z}} at the end of a word or after a long vowel, but was retained word internally after a short vowel: {{lang|gmh|wazzer}} ({{langx|de|Wasser}}) vs. {{lang|gmh|lâzen}} ({{langx|de|lassen}}) and {{lang|mhg|fuoz}} ({{langx|de|Fuß}}).<ref name="Paul-1998">{{cite book |last=Paul |first=Hermann |title=Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik |edition=24 |year=1998 |publisher=Max Niemeyer |isbn=3-484-10233-0 |page=163 }}</ref>

[[File:Crop of vsz from History vom Herr Flordimar Cod Don 140 fol 37r.jpg|thumb|Use of the late medieval ligature {{angbr|ſz}} in [[Ulrich Füetrer]]'s {{lang|de|Buch der Abenteuer}}: "uſz" (modern German {{lang|de|aus}})]]

In the thirteenth century, the phonetic difference between {{angbr|z}} and {{angbr|s}} was lost at the beginning and end of words in all dialects except for [[Gottscheerish]].<ref name="Salmons-2018"/> Word-internally, Old and Middle High German {{angbr|s}} came to be pronounced {{IPA|[z]}} (the [[voiced alveolar sibilant]]), while Old and Middle High German {{angbr|z}} continued to be pronounced {{IPA|[s]}}. This produces the contrast between modern standard German {{lang|de|reisen}} and {{lang|de|reißen}}. The former is pronounced {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪzn̩|IPA}} and comes from {{langx|gmh|reisen}}, while the latter is pronounced {{IPA|de|ˈʁaɪsn̩|IPA}} and comes from {{langx|gmh|reizen}}.<ref name="penzl">{{cite journal|last=Penzl |first=Herbert |title=Die mittelhochdeutschen Sibilanten und ihre Weiterentwicklung |journal=Word |volume=24 |year=1968 |issue=1–3 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1968.11435536 |pages=344, 348}}</ref>

In the late medieval and early modern periods, {{IPA|[s]}} was frequently spelled {{angbr|sz}} or {{angbr|ss}}. The earliest appearance of [[Orthographic ligature|ligature]] resembling the modern {{angbr|ß}} is in a fragment of a [[manuscript]] of the poem ''[[Wolfdietrich]]'' from around 1300.<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|214}}<ref name="penzl"/> In the Gothic [[book hand]]s and [[bastarda]] scripts of the [[late medieval]] period, {{angbr|sz}} is written with [[long s]] and the Blackletter "tailed z", as {{angbr|ſʒ}}. A recognizable [[Typographic ligature|ligature]] representing the {{angbr|sz}} digraph develops in handwriting in the early 14th century.<ref name="brekle">{{cite journal |first=Herbert E. |last=Brekle |title=Zur handschriftlichen und typographischen Geschichte der Buchstabenligatur ß aus gotisch-deutschen und humanistisch-italienischen Kontexten |journal=[[Gutenberg-Jahrbuch]] |volume=76 |location=Mainz |year=2001 |issn=0072-9094 }}</ref>{{rp|67-76}}

[[File:Crop of Der Bierbreuwer from Jost Amman's Stände und Handwerker Wellcome L0069606.jpg|thumb|An early modern printed rhyme by [[Hans Sachs]] showing several instances of ß as a clear ligature of {{angbr|ſz}}: "groß", "stoß", "Laß", "baß" (= modern "besser"), and "Faß"]]

By the late 1400s, the choice of spelling between {{angbr|sz}} and {{angbr|ss}} was usually based on the sound's position in the word rather than etymology: {{angbr|sz}} ({{angbr|ſz}}) tended to be used in word final position: {{lang|de|uſz}} ({{langx|gmh|ûz}}, {{langx|de|aus}}), {{lang|de|-nüſz}} ({{langx|gmh|-nüss(e)}}, {{langx|de|-nis}}); {{angbr|ss}} ({{angbr|ſſ}}) tended to be used when the sound occurred between vowels: {{lang|de|groſſes}} ({{langx|gmh|grôzes}}, {{langx|de|großes}}).<ref name="young">{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=Christopher |last2=Gloning |first2=Thomas |title=A History of the German Language Through Texts |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-415-86263-9}}</ref>{{rp|171}} While [[Martin Luther]]'s early 16th-century printings also contain spellings such as {{lang|de|heyße}} ({{langx|de|heiße}}), early modern printers mostly changed these to {{angbr|ſſ}}: {{lang|de|heiſſe}}. Around the same time, printers began to systematically distinguish between {{lang|de|das}} (the, that [pronoun]) and {{lang|de|daß}} (that [conjunction]).<ref name="young"/>{{rp|215}}

In modern German, the Old and Middle High German {{angbr|z}} is now represented by either {{angbr|ss}}, {{angbr|ß}}, or, if there are no related forms in which {{IPA|[s]}} occurs intervocalically, with {{angbr|s}}: {{lang|de|messen}} ({{langx|gmh|mezzen}}), {{lang|de|Straße}} ({{langx|gmh|strâze}}), and {{lang|de|was}} ({{langx|gmh|waz}}).<ref name="Paul-1998"/>

=== Standardization of use ===
The pre-1996 German use of {{angbr|ß}} was codified by the eighteenth-century grammarians [[Johann Christoph Gottsched]] (1748) and [[Johann Christoph Adelung]] (1793) and made official for all German-speaking countries by the [[German Orthographic Conference of 1901]]. In this orthography, the use of {{angbr|ß}} was modeled after the use of [[long s|long]] and "round"-s in Fraktur. {{angbr|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.<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|217-18}} In his ''[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]]'' (1854) [[Jacob Grimm]] called for {{angbr|ß}} or {{angbr|sz}} to be written for all instances of Middle and Old High German etymological {{angbr|z}} (e.g., {{lang|de|eß}} instead of {{lang|de|es}} from {{langx|gmh|ez}}); however, his etymological proposal could not overcome established usage.<ref name="young"/>{{rp|269}}

In [[Austria-Hungary]] prior to the German Orthographic Conference of 1902, an alternative rule formulated by  [[Johann 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 the [[German orthography reform of 1996]] in that {{angbr|ß}} was only used after long vowels.<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|219}}

===Use in Roman type===
[[File:ß from Hieronymi Aleandri Mottensis Tabulae utilißimae, Köln 1541.png|thumb|left|The ''ſs'' ligature used for Latin in 16th-century printing ({{lang|la|utiliſsimæ}})]]
[[File:Lang-s-Rund-s Blaeu_Essen.gif|thumb|''[[Essen]]'' with ſs-ligature reads ''Eßen'' (Latin [[Joan Blaeu|Blaeu]] atlas, text printed in Antiqua, 1650s).]]
[[File:French Eszett.jpg|thumb|left|French usage as a ligature for ⟨ss⟩ in 1784 from [[Galerie des Modes et Costumes Français|Gallerie des Modes]]]]

In early modern Latin type ([[antiqua (typeface class)|antiqua]]), a ligature similar to modern {{angbr|ß}} developed out of a long s followed by a round s ({{angbr|ſs}}), and as such was used in languages such as Italian in alternation with {{angbr|ſſ}}, usually based on requirements of space on the page.<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Michel |author-first=Andreas |chapter=Italian orthography in Early Modern times |title=Orthographies in Early Modern Europe |editor-last1=Baddeley |editor-first1=Susan |editor-last2=Voeste |editor-first2=Anja |year=2012 |publisher=de Gruyter Mouton |doi=10.1515/9783110288179.63 |pages=63–96|isbn=978-3-11-028817-9 }}</ref>{{rp|76}} However, despite its resemblance to the modern {{angbr|ß}}, this ligature was not commonly used as an equivalent to the Fraktur {{angbr|sz}} in German.<ref name="mosley">{{citation|last=Mosley|first=James|date=2008-01-31|title=Esszet or ß|website=Typefoundry|url=https://typefoundry.blogspot.com/2008/01/esszett-or.html|access-date=2019-05-05}}</ref><ref name="jamra">{{citation|last=Jamra|first=Mark|year=2006|title=The Eszett| website=TypeCulture|url=https://typeculture.com/academic-resource/articles-essays/the-eszett/|access-date=2019-05-05}}</ref> This ligature generally fell out of use in the eighteenth century, together with the use of long s in antiqua.<ref name="brekle"/>{{rp|73}} German works printed in Roman type in the late 18th and early 19th centuries such as [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]]'s {{lang|de|Wissenschaftslehre}} did not provide any equivalent to the {{angbr|ß}}.<ref name="brekle"/>{{rp|74}}

[[Jacob Grimm]] began using {{angbr|ß}} in his {{lang|de|Deutsche Grammatik}} (1819); however, it varied with {{angbr|ſſ}} word internally.<ref name="brekle"/>{{rp|74}} Grimm eventually rejected the use of the character; in their {{lang|de|[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]]}} (1838), the [[Brothers Grimm]] favored writing it as {{angbr|sz}}.<ref name="jamra"/>{{rp|2}} The [[First Orthographic Conference (German)|First Orthographic Conference]] in Berlin (1876) recommended that ''ß'' be represented as {{angbr|ſs}} – however, both suggestions were ultimately rejected.<ref name="young"/>{{rp|269}}<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|222}} In 1879, a proposal for various letter forms was published in the ''[[Journal für Buchdruckerkunst]]''.  A committee of the [[Typographic Society of Leipzig]] chose the "Sulzbacher form". In 1903, it was proclaimed as the new standard for the Eszett in Roman type.<ref name="jamra"/>{{rp|3-5}}

Until the abolition of Fraktur in 1941, it was common for [[family name]]s to be written with {{angbr|ß}} in Fraktur and {{angbr|ss}} in Roman type. The formal abolition resulted in inconsistencies in how names are written in modern German (such as between Heuss and Heuß).<ref name="poschenrieder"/>{{rp|176}}

===Abolition and attempted abolitions===
The Swiss and Liechtensteiners ceased to use {{angbr|ß}} in the twentieth century. This has been explained variously by the early adoption of Roman type in Switzerland, the use of [[typewriter]]s in Switzerland that omitted {{angbr|ß}} in favor of French and Italian characters, and peculiarities of [[Swiss German]] that cause words spelled with {{angbr|ß}} or {{angbr|ss}} to be pronounced with [[gemination]].<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|221-22}} The Education Council of [[Zürich]] had decided to stop teaching the letter in 1935, whereas the [[Neue Zürcher Zeitung]] continued to write {{angbr|ß}} until 1971.<ref>{{cite book| last=Ammon |first=Ulrich |year=1995 |title=Die deutsche Sprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz: das Problem der nationalen Varietäten |publisher=de Gruyter |isbn=9783110147537 |page=254}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gallmann |first=Paul |chapter=Warum die Schweizer weiterhin kein Eszett schreiben |title=Die Neuregelung der deutschenRechtschreibung. Begründung und Kritik |editor-last1=Augst |editor-first1=Gerhard |editor-last2=Blüml |editor-first2=Karl |editor-last3=Nerius |editor-first3=Dieter |editor-last4=Sitta |editor-first4=Horst |publisher=Max Niemeyer |year=1997 |pages=135–140 |chapter-url=http://gallmann.uni-jena.de/Pub/Eszett_1997.pdf}}</ref> 

When the Nazi German government abolished the use of blackletter typesetting in 1941, it was originally planned to also abolish the use of {{angbr|ß}}. However, Hitler intervened to retain {{angbr|ß}}, while deciding against the creation of a capital form.<ref>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. {{ISBN|978-3-631-33050-0}}</ref> In 1954, a group of reformers in [[West Germany]] similarly proposed, among other changes to German spelling, the abolition of {{angbr|ß}}; their proposals were publicly opposed by German-language writers [[Thomas Mann]], [[Hermann Hesse]], and [[Friedrich Dürrenmatt]] and were never implemented.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kranz |first=Florian |title=Eine Schifffahrt mit drei f: Positives zur Rechtschreibreform |publisher=Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht |year=1998 |isbn=3-525-34005-2 |pages=30–31}}</ref> Although the German Orthography Reform of 1996 reduced the use of {{angbr|ß}} in standard German, Adrienne Walder writes that an abolition outside of Switzerland appears unlikely.<ref name="walder"/>{{rp|235}}

===Development of a capital form <span class="anchor" id="Capital form"></span>===
[[File:Eszett Leipziger Duden 1957.png|thumb|Uppercase ß on a book cover from 1957]]
[[File:Gießener Zeitung Logo.svg|class=skin-invert-image|thumb|Logo of {{Interlanguage link|Gießener Zeitung|lt=''Gießener Zeitung''|de}} ("{{lang|de|GIEẞENER ZEITUNG}}", 2008 design)]]
[[File:Straßenschild-Versal-ß.jpg|thumb|Street sign with {{lang|de|Versal-Eszett}} ("{{lang|de|MÜHLFELDSTRAẞE}}") in {{lang|de|[[Heiligkreuzsteinach]]}} (2011 photograph)]] 
Because {{angbr|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.<ref name="Long debate" /> There were, however, proposals to introduce capital forms of {{angbr|ß}} for use in allcaps writing (where {{angbr|ß}} would otherwise usually be represented as either {{angbr|SS}} or {{angbr|SZ}}). A capital was first seriously proposed in 1879, but did not enter official or widespread use.<ref>{{lang|de|Signa – Beiträge zur Signographie}}. Heft 9, 2006.</ref> The Orthographic Conference of 1903 called for the use of {{angbr|SZ}} in allcaps until a capital letter could be proposed.<ref name="Long debate" /> Historical typefaces offering a capitalized {{lang|de|eszett}} mostly date to the time between 1905 and 1930. The first known typefaces to include capital {{lang|de|eszett}} were produced by the {{lang|de|Schelter & Giesecke}} foundry in Leipzig, in 1905/06. {{lang|de|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 the {{lang|de|[[Duden]]}} dictionary expressed the desirability of a separate glyph for capital {{angbr|ß}}:
{{quote|{{lang|de|Die Verwendung zweier Buchstaben für einen Laut ist nur ein Notbehelf, der aufhören muss, sobald ein geeigneter Druckbuchstabe für das große ß geschaffen ist.}}<ref>{{lang|de|Vorbemerkungen, XII.}} In: {{lang|de|Duden – Rechtschreibung. 9. Auflage, 1925}}</ref>}}
{{quote|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.}}

The {{lang|de|Duden}} was edited separately in [[East Germany|East]] and [[West Germany]] during the 1950s to 1980s. The East German {{lang|de|Duden}} of 1957 (15th ed.) introduced a capital {{angbr|ß}} in its typesetting without revising the rule for capitalization. The 16th edition of 1969 still announced that an uppercase {{angbr|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 {{angbr|ß}}.<ref>{{lang|de|Der Große Duden. 25. Auflage, Leipzig 1984, S. 601, K 41.}}</ref>

In the 2000s, there were renewed efforts on the part of certain [[typographer]]s to introduce a capital, {{angbr|ẞ}}. A proposal to include a corresponding character in the [[Unicode]] set submitted in 2004<ref>{{cite web |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2888.pdf |author=Andreas Stötzner |title=Proposal to encode Latin Capital Letter Double S (rejected) |access-date=2021-06-25 }}</ref> was rejected.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04361.htm#101-C22 |title=Approved Minutes of the UTC 101 / L2 198 Joint Meeting, Cupertino, CA – November 15-18, 2004 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2005-02-10 |publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]] |access-date=2021-06-25 |quote=The UTC concurs with Stoetzner that Capital Double S is a typographical issue. Therefore the UTC believes it is inappropriate to encode it as a separate character.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/alloc/nonapprovals.html |title=Archive of Notices of Non-Approval |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[Unicode Consortium]] |access-date=2021-06-25 |quote=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.}}</ref> A second proposal submitted in 2007 was successful, and the character was included in Unicode version 5.1.0 in April 2008 ({{unichar|1E9E|Latin capital letter sharp s}}).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3227.pdf |title=DIN_29.1_SCHARF_S_1.3_E |access-date=2014-01-30}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1E00.pdf |title=Unicode chart |access-date=2014-01-30}}</ref> 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.<ref name="DRR und W-2017"/> As of 2024, {{angbr|ẞ}} is now the preferred option for depicting the character in capital letters, with {{angbr|SS}} as a second option.<ref name="Amtliches Regelwerk"/>