S

S, or for lowercase, 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 worldwide. Its name in English is essTemplate:Efn (pronounced Template:IPAc-en), plural esses.<ref>"S", Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "ess," op. cit.</ref>

History

Proto-Sinaitic Shin	Phoenician Shin	Western Greek Sigma	Etruscan S	Latin S
File:Proto-semiticS-01.svg	File:PhoenicianS-01.svg	File:Greek Sigma normal.svg	File:EtruscanS-02.svg	File:Capitalis monumentalis S.SVG

Northwest Semitic šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative Template:IPA (as in 'Template:Emip'). It originated most likely as a pictogram of a tooth (Template:Lang) and represented the phoneme Template:IPA 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 Template:IPA "sh" phoneme, so the derived Greek letter Sigma (Template:Lang) came to represent the voiceless alveolar sibilant Template:IPA. 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 xi.Template:Citation needed Within Greek, the name of sigma was influenced by its association with the Greek word Template:Lang (earlier Template:Transliteration), "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 to be identified as a separate 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 Dorians to the same letter called "Sigma" by the Ionians.<ref>"Template:Lang" ('...the same letter, which the Dorians call "San", but the Ionians "Sigma"...'; Herodotus, Histories 1.139); cf. Nick Nicholas, Non-Attic letters Template:Webarchive.</ref>

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 Template:IPA of Greek sigma (𐌔) was maintained, while san (𐌑) represented a separate phoneme, most likely Template:IPA "sh" (transliterated as ś). The early Latin alphabet adopted sigma, but not san, as Old Latin did not have a Template:IPA "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 (Template:Script), and appears with four to eight strokes in the earliest runic inscriptions, but is occasionally reduced to three strokes (Template:Script) from the later 5th century, and appears regularly with three strokes in Younger Futhark.

The [[Sh (digraph)|Template:Angbr digraph]] for English Template:IPA arose in Middle English (alongside [[Sch (trigraph)|Template:Angbr]]), replacing the Old English Template:Angbr digraph. Similarly, Old High German Template:Angbr was replaced by Template:Angbr in Early Modern High German orthography.

Long s

File:Schwäbische Bastarda 1496 Schriftprobe Priesters Tochter.png

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

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-uncial and 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 (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 of London made the switch from the long to the short s with its issue of 10 September 1803. 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> Order of 3 January 1941 to all public offices, signed by Martin Bormann. Template:Cite book</ref> The ligature of ſs (or ſz) was retained; however, it gave rise to the Eszett Template:Angbr in contemporary German orthography.

Use in writing systems

English

In English, Template:Angbr represents a voiceless alveolar sibilant Template:IPA. It also commonly represents a voiced alveolar sibilant Template:IPA, as in 'rose' and 'bands'. Due to yod-coalescence, it may also represent a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative Template:IPA, as in 'sugar', or a voiced palato-alveolar fricative Template:IPA, as in 'measure'.

Final Template:Angbr is the usual mark for plural nouns. It is the regular ending of English third person present tense verbs.

In some words of French origin, Template:Angbr is silent, as in 'isle' or 'debris'.

The letter Template:Angbr is the seventh most common letter in English and the third-most common consonant after Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is the most common letter for the first letter of a word in the English language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

German

In German, Template:Angbr represents:

• A voiced alveolar sibilant Template:IPA before vowels (except after obstruents), as in 'sich'.
• A voiceless alveolar sibilant Template:IPA before consonants or when final, as in 'ist' and 'das'.
• A voiceless palato-alveolar fricative Template:IPA before Template:Angbr at the beginning of a word or syllable, as in 'spät' and 'Stadt'.

When doubled (Template:Angbr), it represents a voiceless alveolar sibilant Template:IPA, as in 'müssen'.

In the digraph Template:Angbr, it represents a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative Template:IPA, as in 'schon'.

Other languages

In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, Template:Angbr represents the voiceless alveolar or voiceless dental sibilant Template:IPA.

In many Romance languages, it also represents the voiced alveolar or voiced dental sibilant Template:IPA, as in Portuguese mesa (table).

In Portuguese, it may represent the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative Template:IPA in most dialects when syllable-final, and Template:IPA in European Portuguese Islão (Islam) or, in many sociolects of Brazilian Portuguese, esdrúxulo (proparoxytone).

In some Andalusian dialects of Spanish, it merged with Peninsular Spanish Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr and is now pronounced Template:IPA.

In Hungarian, it represents Template:IPA.

In Turkmen, it represents Template:IPA.

In several Western Romance languages, like Spanish and French, the final Template:Angbr is the usual mark of plural nouns.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, Template:Angbr represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant Template:IPA.

Other uses

• Used in a chemical formula to represent sulfur. For example, Template:Chem is sulfur dioxide.
• Used in the preferred IUPAC name for a chemical to indicate a specific enantiomer. For example, "(S)-2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)propanoic acid" is one of the enantiomers of mecoprop.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

• ſ : Latin letter long s, an obsolete variant of s
• ẜ ẝ : Various forms of long s were used for medieval scribal abbreviations.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref>
• ẞ ß : German Eszett or "sharp S", derived from a ligature of long s followed by either s or z
• S with diacritics: Ś ś Ṡ ṡ ẛ Ṩ ṩ Ṥ ṥ Ṣ ṣ S̩ s̩ Ꞩ ꞩ Ꟊ ꟊ<ref name="L219179">Template:Cite web</ref> Ꟍ ꟍ<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ŝ ŝ Ṧ ṧ Š š Ş ş Ș ș S̈ s̈ ᶊ Ȿ ȿ ᵴ<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> ᶳ<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• ₛ : Subscript small s was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• ˢ : Modifier letter small s is used for phonetic transcription.
• ꜱ : Small capital S was used in the Icelandic First Grammatical Treatise to mark gemination.<ref name="auto"/>
• Ʂ ʂ : S with hook, used for writing Mandarin Chinese using the early draft version of pinyin romanization during the mid-1950s<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ƨ ƨ : Latin letter reversed S (used in Zhuang transliteration)
• 𝼩 : Latin small letter s with mid-height left hook was used by the British and Foreign Bible Society in the early 20th century for romanization of the Malayalam language.<ref name="L221156">Template:Cite web</ref>
• IPA-specific symbols related to S: Template:IPA link Template:IPA linkTemplate:Citation needed Template:IPA link
• Para-IPA version of the IPA fricative ɕ:<ref name="L221041">Template:Cite web</ref> 𝼞 𐞺
• Ꞅ ꞅ : Insular S
• Ꟗ ꟗ : Used in Middle Scots<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ꟙ ꟙ : Latin letter Sigmoid S was used in medieval palaeography<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Derived signs, symbols, and abbreviations

File:Sortavala Coat of Arms.svg

A letter S in the coat of arms of Sortavala

• $ : Dollar sign
• ₷ : Spesmilo
• § : Section sign
• ℠ : Service mark symbol
• ∫ : Integral symbol, short for summation (derived from long s)

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

• 𐤔 : Semitic letter Shin, from which the following symbols originally derive:
  • archaic Greek Sigma could be written with different numbers of angles and strokes. Besides the classical form with four strokes (Template:GrGl), a three-stroke form resembling an angular Latin S (Template:GrGl) was commonly found, and was particularly characteristic of some mainland Greek varieties, including the Attic and several "red" alphabets.
    • Σ: classical Greek letter Sigma
      • Ϲ ϲ: Greek lunate sigma
        • Template:Script : Coptic letter sima
        • С с : Cyrillic letter Es, derived from a form of sigma
    • 𐌔 : Old Italic letter S, includes the variants also found in the archaic Greek letter
      • S: Latin letter S
      • Template:Script : Runic letter sowilo, which is derived from Old Italic S
    • Template:Script: Gothic letter sigil
• Ս : Armenian letter Se

See also

• Cool S
• Ⓢ in Enclosed Alphanumerics

External links

• Template:Commons-inline
• Template:Wiktionary-inline
• Template:Wiktionary-inline
• Template:Cite NSRW