Editing Germanic umlaut (section)

=== German orthography ===
{{See also|Umlaut (diacritic)|Å}}
[[File:Germanic umlaut on keyboard.jpg|thumb|{{angbr|Ä}}, {{angbr|Ö}}, {{angbr|Ü}} on a German computer keyboard]]
[[File:Umlaut forms.png|thumb|upright=0.45|New and old notation of umlauted vowels]]
German orthography is generally consistent in its representation of i-umlaut. The [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut diacritic]], consisting of two dots above the vowel, is used for the fronted vowels, making the historical process much more visible in the modern language than is the case in English: {{angbr|a}} – {{angbr|ä}}, {{angbr|o}} – {{angbr|ö}}, {{angbr|u}} – {{angbr|ü}}, {{angbr|au}} – {{angbr|äu}}. This is a neat solution when pairs of words with and without umlaut mutation are compared, as in umlauted plurals like {{lang|de|Mutter}} – {{lang|de|Mütter}} ("mother" – "mothers").

However, in a small number of words, a vowel affected by i-umlaut is not marked with the umlaut diacritic because its origin is not obvious. Either there is no unumlauted equivalent or they are not recognized as a pair because the meanings have drifted apart. The adjective {{lang|de|fertig}} ("ready, finished"; originally "ready to go") contains an umlaut mutation, but it is spelled with {{angbr|e}} rather than {{angbr|ä}} as its relationship to {{lang|de|Fahrt}} ("journey") has, for most speakers of the language, been lost from sight. Likewise, {{lang|de|alt}} ("old") has the comparative {{lang|de|älter}} ("older"), but the noun from this is spelled {{lang|de|Eltern}} ("parents"). {{lang|de|Aufwand}} ("effort") has the verb {{lang|de|aufwenden}} ("to spend, to dedicate") and the adjective {{lang|de|aufwendig}} ("requiring effort") though the [[German spelling reform of 1996|1996 spelling reform]] now permits the alternative spelling {{lang|de|aufwändig}} (but not {{lang|de|*aufwänden}}).{{sfnp |Duden |1996 |p=133}} For {{lang|de|denken}}, see [[#Umlaut in Germanic verbs|below]].

Some words have umlaut diacritics that do not mark a vowel produced by the sound change of umlaut. This includes loanwords such as {{lang|de|Känguru}} from English ''kangaroo'', and {{lang|de|Büro}} from French {{lang|fr|bureau}}. Here the diacritic is a purely phonological marker, indicating that the English and French sounds (or at least, the approximation of them used in German) are identical to the native German umlauted sounds. Similarly, [[Big Mac]] was originally spelt {{lang|de|Big Mäc}} in German.{{sfnp |Isert |2007}} In borrowings from Latin and Greek, Latin {{angbr|ae}}, {{angbr|oe}}, or Greek {{angbr|αι}} {{lang|de|ai}}, {{angbr|οι}} {{lang|de|oi}}, are rendered in German as {{lang|de|ä}} and {{lang|de|ö}} respectively ({{lang|de|Ägypten}}, "Egypt", or {{lang|de|Ökonomie}}, "economy"). However, Latin {{angbr|y}} and Greek {{angbr|υ}} are written {{lang|de|y}} in German instead of {{lang|de|ü}} ({{lang|de|Psychologie}}). There are also several non-borrowed words where the vowels ''ö'' and ''ü'' have not arisen through historical umlaut, but due to [[labialization|rounding]] of an earlier unrounded [[front vowel]] (possibly from the [[labial consonant|labial]]/[[Labialization|labialized]] consonants {{lang|de|w/f/sch}} occurring on both sides), such as {{lang|de|fünf}} ("five"; from Middle High German {{lang|gmh|vinf}}), {{lang|de|zwölf}} ("twelve"; from {{lang|gmh|zwelf}}), and {{lang|de|schöpfen}} ("create"; from {{lang|gmh|schepfen}}).

==== Substitution ====
When German words (names in particular) are written in the [[ISO basic Latin alphabet|basic Latin alphabet]], umlauts are usually substituted with {{angbr|ae}}, {{angbr|oe}} and {{angbr|ue}} to differentiate them from simple {{angbr|a}}, {{angbr|o}}, and {{angbr|u}}.{{sfnp |Oracle |1999}}

====Orthography and design history====
[[File:Umlaut Development.png|thumb|right|upright=1|Development of the umlaut (anachronistically lettered in Sütterlin): {{lang|de|schoen}} becomes {{lang|de|schön}} via {{lang|de|schoͤn}} 'beautiful'.]]
The German phonological umlaut is present in the [[Old High German]] period and continues to develop in [[Middle High German]]. From the Middle High German, it was sometimes denoted in written German by adding an {{angbr|e}} to the affected vowel, either after the vowel or, in the small form, above it. This can still be seen in some names: [[Goethe]], [[Goebbels]], [[Staedtler]].{{efn |In medieval manuscripts, other [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] could also be written using superscripts: in {{lang|gmh|bluome}} ("flower"), for example, the {{angbr|o}} was frequently placed above the {{angbr|u}}, although this letter {{angbr|ů}} survives now only in [[Czech alphabet|Czech]]. Compare also the [[Tilde#Diacritical use|development of the tilde]] as a superscript {{angbr|n}}.}}

In [[blackletter]] handwriting, as used in German manuscripts of the later Middle Ages and also in many printed texts of the early modern period, the superscript {{angbr|e}} still had a form that would now be recognisable as an {{angbr|e}}, but in manuscript writing, umlauted vowels could be indicated by two dots since the late medieval period.
<!--This section needs a look, see comment below: "In the [[Kurrent|forms of handwriting]] that emerged in the [[early modern period]] (of which [[Sütterlin]] is the latest and best-known example) the letter {{angle bracket|e}} was composed of two short vertical lines very close together, and the superscript {{angle bracket|e}} looked like two tiny strokes. Even from the 16th century, the handwritten convention of indicating umlaut by two dots placed above the affected vowel is also found in printed texts."-->
<!--derivation from "Kurrent" ''e'' sounds like a plausible explanation of the two dots, but unfortunately this is not only unreferenced but also contradicted by the occasional use of the two dots in the 14th century, long before the development of "Kurrent".-->

Unusual umlaut designs are sometimes also created for graphic design purposes, such as to fit an umlaut into tightly-spaced lines of text.{{sfnp |Hardwig |n.d.}} This may include umlauts placed vertically or inside the body of the letter.{{sfnp |Hardwig |2013}}{{sfnp |Flickr |2015}}{{sfnp |Hardwig |2014}}