How it Works18 mins ago
'old English'
8 Answers
Can anyone tell me when the odd use of substitute lettering 'f' was dropped in favour of current 's' please? eg. 'gloffary' which currently is 'glossary'.....Thanking you in anticipation.
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It is not aberrant. It is simply a matter of writing. It was not an F, either, but the common form of S as it was written quite normally in the Middle Ages. If it looks like an F, look carefully - it does not have a stroke across it . This appears in Gothic script, which gave way to a more legible script before 1450 ( before the invention of printing with movable type)
The later Humanist script, on which most early print founts were based , had a curved "s"
The later Humanist script, on which most early print founts were based , had a curved "s"
It was used in Fraktur, the old German gothic typeface, until WW2, when Hitler abolished it.
http://youworkforthem...pe/T1515/T1515_03.jpg
http://youworkforthem...pe/T1515/T1515_03.jpg
"If it looks like an F, look carefully - it does not have a stroke across it"
The long s is subject to confusion with the lower case (or minuscule) f, sometimes even having an f-like nub at its middle, but on the left side only, in various roman typefaces and in blackletter.
"This appears in Gothic script, which gave way to a more legible script before 1450"
The long s fell out of use in roman and italic typefaces well before the middle of the 19th century. In Spain the change was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; in France, the change occurred between 1782 and 1793; in Britain and the United States, between 1795 and 1810.
Despite its disappearance from printed works, in England the long s survived in handwriting into the 1860s.
The long s is subject to confusion with the lower case (or minuscule) f, sometimes even having an f-like nub at its middle, but on the left side only, in various roman typefaces and in blackletter.
"This appears in Gothic script, which gave way to a more legible script before 1450"
The long s fell out of use in roman and italic typefaces well before the middle of the 19th century. In Spain the change was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; in France, the change occurred between 1782 and 1793; in Britain and the United States, between 1795 and 1810.
Despite its disappearance from printed works, in England the long s survived in handwriting into the 1860s.
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