When did F become S in typeography, and why? The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results...

Road tyres vs "Street" tyres for charity ride on MTB Tandem

Python - Fishing Simulator

How to test the equality of two Pearson correlation coefficients computed from the same sample?

How can I protect witches in combat who wear limited clothing?

How are presidential pardons supposed to be used?

Do warforged have souls?

Why is the object placed in the middle of the sentence here?

How do you keep chess fun when your opponent constantly beats you?

Would an alien lifeform be able to achieve space travel if lacking in vision?

Relations between two reciprocal partial derivatives?

Why does the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) not include telescopes from Africa, Asia or Australia?

How do I add random spotting to the same face in cycles?

Why is superheterodyning better than direct conversion?

Working through the single responsibility principle (SRP) in Python when calls are expensive

How to politely respond to generic emails requesting a PhD/job in my lab? Without wasting too much time

First use of “packing” as in carrying a gun

What's the point in a preamp?

Can the prologue be the backstory of your main character?

Take groceries in checked luggage

Mortgage adviser recommends a longer term than necessary combined with overpayments

Why can't wing-mounted spoilers be used to steepen approaches?

Is this wall load bearing? Blueprints and photos attached

Am I ethically obligated to go into work on an off day if the reason is sudden?

What are these Gizmos at Izaña Atmospheric Research Center in Spain?



When did F become S in typeography, and why?



The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)Were does Tifinagh come from?When and how did English become the Lingua Franca?Why did English become Lingua Franca of the modern world?When did English become a major subject in Japanese schools?When and how (why) did the idea that gender is not biological startWhen did French become the official language of France?When did Ireland become majority English-speakingOrigin of “It won't be done by next Tuesday”When did the British gentry stop wearing wigs?What is the earliest example of the usage of 'Nazis' to refer clearly and exclusively to the National-Socialists?












4















I'm sure you've all noticed documents in English from the 1700's often have 'F' where, if written now, there would be an 'S'. You can see what I'm talking about a few times in this example, like at the beginning where it says "Prayers faid" or in the date "Tuefday November 26. 1700."enter image description here



What's going on with this? When did it start? When did it stop?










share|improve this question

























  • it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

    – Agent_L
    5 hours ago
















4















I'm sure you've all noticed documents in English from the 1700's often have 'F' where, if written now, there would be an 'S'. You can see what I'm talking about a few times in this example, like at the beginning where it says "Prayers faid" or in the date "Tuefday November 26. 1700."enter image description here



What's going on with this? When did it start? When did it stop?










share|improve this question

























  • it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

    – Agent_L
    5 hours ago














4












4








4








I'm sure you've all noticed documents in English from the 1700's often have 'F' where, if written now, there would be an 'S'. You can see what I'm talking about a few times in this example, like at the beginning where it says "Prayers faid" or in the date "Tuefday November 26. 1700."enter image description here



What's going on with this? When did it start? When did it stop?










share|improve this question
















I'm sure you've all noticed documents in English from the 1700's often have 'F' where, if written now, there would be an 'S'. You can see what I'm talking about a few times in this example, like at the beginning where it says "Prayers faid" or in the date "Tuefday November 26. 1700."enter image description here



What's going on with this? When did it start? When did it stop?







18th-century language






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 27 mins ago









Ian Kemp

1033




1033










asked yesterday









Ryan_LRyan_L

26826




26826













  • it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

    – Agent_L
    5 hours ago



















  • it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

    – Agent_L
    5 hours ago

















it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

– Agent_L
5 hours ago





it's not f, it's half of German double-s: ß

– Agent_L
5 hours ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















23














There's a typographical distinction between an actual f and the ſ you're referring to in the text. See for instance the difference between 'magiſtrats' and 'behalf' in the second paragraph.



The 'ſ' is a long 's'; the wiki article has a very long section on its history and decline of use.




In general, the long s fell out of use in Roman and italic typefaces in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It rarely appears in good quality London printing after 1800, though it lingers provincially until 1824, and is found in handwriting into the second half of the nineteenth century" being sometimes seen later on in archaic or traditionalist printing such as printed collections of sermons.




See this Old English Alphabet for a more complete list of changes to the alphabet. And this somewhat related Linguistics SE question, with a long answer that explains how 'ſ' was just another way of writing 's' in some circumstances, rather than a letter that corresponded to a different pronunciation.



Other interesting posts courtesy of sumelic:




  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/37982/use-of-f-instead-of-s-in-historic-printed-english-documents

  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/321980/how-exactly-was-the-long-s-used-and-why-did-people-stop-using-it






share|improve this answer





















  • 5





    This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

    – TonyK
    13 hours ago













  • I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

    – sgf
    13 hours ago






  • 1





    @TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

    – Denis de Bernardy
    12 hours ago












Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "324"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52097%2fwhen-did-f-become-s-in-typeography-and-why%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









23














There's a typographical distinction between an actual f and the ſ you're referring to in the text. See for instance the difference between 'magiſtrats' and 'behalf' in the second paragraph.



The 'ſ' is a long 's'; the wiki article has a very long section on its history and decline of use.




In general, the long s fell out of use in Roman and italic typefaces in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It rarely appears in good quality London printing after 1800, though it lingers provincially until 1824, and is found in handwriting into the second half of the nineteenth century" being sometimes seen later on in archaic or traditionalist printing such as printed collections of sermons.




See this Old English Alphabet for a more complete list of changes to the alphabet. And this somewhat related Linguistics SE question, with a long answer that explains how 'ſ' was just another way of writing 's' in some circumstances, rather than a letter that corresponded to a different pronunciation.



Other interesting posts courtesy of sumelic:




  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/37982/use-of-f-instead-of-s-in-historic-printed-english-documents

  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/321980/how-exactly-was-the-long-s-used-and-why-did-people-stop-using-it






share|improve this answer





















  • 5





    This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

    – TonyK
    13 hours ago













  • I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

    – sgf
    13 hours ago






  • 1





    @TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

    – Denis de Bernardy
    12 hours ago
















23














There's a typographical distinction between an actual f and the ſ you're referring to in the text. See for instance the difference between 'magiſtrats' and 'behalf' in the second paragraph.



The 'ſ' is a long 's'; the wiki article has a very long section on its history and decline of use.




In general, the long s fell out of use in Roman and italic typefaces in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It rarely appears in good quality London printing after 1800, though it lingers provincially until 1824, and is found in handwriting into the second half of the nineteenth century" being sometimes seen later on in archaic or traditionalist printing such as printed collections of sermons.




See this Old English Alphabet for a more complete list of changes to the alphabet. And this somewhat related Linguistics SE question, with a long answer that explains how 'ſ' was just another way of writing 's' in some circumstances, rather than a letter that corresponded to a different pronunciation.



Other interesting posts courtesy of sumelic:




  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/37982/use-of-f-instead-of-s-in-historic-printed-english-documents

  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/321980/how-exactly-was-the-long-s-used-and-why-did-people-stop-using-it






share|improve this answer





















  • 5





    This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

    – TonyK
    13 hours ago













  • I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

    – sgf
    13 hours ago






  • 1





    @TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

    – Denis de Bernardy
    12 hours ago














23












23








23







There's a typographical distinction between an actual f and the ſ you're referring to in the text. See for instance the difference between 'magiſtrats' and 'behalf' in the second paragraph.



The 'ſ' is a long 's'; the wiki article has a very long section on its history and decline of use.




In general, the long s fell out of use in Roman and italic typefaces in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It rarely appears in good quality London printing after 1800, though it lingers provincially until 1824, and is found in handwriting into the second half of the nineteenth century" being sometimes seen later on in archaic or traditionalist printing such as printed collections of sermons.




See this Old English Alphabet for a more complete list of changes to the alphabet. And this somewhat related Linguistics SE question, with a long answer that explains how 'ſ' was just another way of writing 's' in some circumstances, rather than a letter that corresponded to a different pronunciation.



Other interesting posts courtesy of sumelic:




  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/37982/use-of-f-instead-of-s-in-historic-printed-english-documents

  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/321980/how-exactly-was-the-long-s-used-and-why-did-people-stop-using-it






share|improve this answer















There's a typographical distinction between an actual f and the ſ you're referring to in the text. See for instance the difference between 'magiſtrats' and 'behalf' in the second paragraph.



The 'ſ' is a long 's'; the wiki article has a very long section on its history and decline of use.




In general, the long s fell out of use in Roman and italic typefaces in professional printing well before the middle of the 19th century. It rarely appears in good quality London printing after 1800, though it lingers provincially until 1824, and is found in handwriting into the second half of the nineteenth century" being sometimes seen later on in archaic or traditionalist printing such as printed collections of sermons.




See this Old English Alphabet for a more complete list of changes to the alphabet. And this somewhat related Linguistics SE question, with a long answer that explains how 'ſ' was just another way of writing 's' in some circumstances, rather than a letter that corresponded to a different pronunciation.



Other interesting posts courtesy of sumelic:




  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/37982/use-of-f-instead-of-s-in-historic-printed-english-documents

  • https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/321980/how-exactly-was-the-long-s-used-and-why-did-people-stop-using-it







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 11 hours ago

























answered yesterday









Denis de BernardyDenis de Bernardy

14.2k24555




14.2k24555








  • 5





    This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

    – TonyK
    13 hours ago













  • I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

    – sgf
    13 hours ago






  • 1





    @TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

    – Denis de Bernardy
    12 hours ago














  • 5





    This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

    – TonyK
    13 hours ago













  • I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

    – sgf
    13 hours ago






  • 1





    @TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

    – Denis de Bernardy
    12 hours ago








5




5





This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

– TonyK
13 hours ago







This has nothing to do with sounds, and less than nothing to do with Hungarian! It is a typographical issue only.

– TonyK
13 hours ago















I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

– sgf
13 hours ago





I agree, the last paragraph really doesn't have anything to do with the issue at hand.

– sgf
13 hours ago




1




1





@TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

– Denis de Bernardy
12 hours ago





@TonyK: that's precisely why I asked the separate question in Linguistics. Fixed.

– Denis de Bernardy
12 hours ago


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52097%2fwhen-did-f-become-s-in-typeography-and-why%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

El tren de la libertad Índice Antecedentes "Porque yo decido" Desarrollo de la...

Puerta de Hutt Referencias Enlaces externos Menú de navegación15°58′00″S 5°42′00″O /...

Castillo d'Acher Características Menú de navegación