Editing SS (section)

===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"/>