æ

{{Main|Ӕ (Cyrillic)}}

The Cyrillic Ӕ and ӕ are used in Ossetian.

File:Aelggyva Edwige.JPG]]

In English, use of the ligature varies between different places and contexts, but it is fairly rare. In modern typography, if technological limitations make the use of æ difficult (such as in use of typewriters, telegraphs, or ASCII), the digraph ae is often used instead.

In Old English, æ represented a sound between a and e ({{IPAslink|æ}}), very much like the short a of cat in many dialects of Modern English. If long vowels are distinguished from short vowels, the long version {{IPA|/æː/}} is marked with a macron (ǣ) or, less commonly, an acute (ǽ).

In the United States, the issue of the ligature is sidestepped in many cases by use of a simplified spelling with "e", as happened with œ as well; thus, archeology is more commonly used than archaeology in American English.[http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/archaeology Merriam-Webster Advanced Learner's Dictionary]. Accessed June 2nd, 2024. Usage of the ae diphthong, however, may vary. For example, medieval is now more common than mediaeval (and the now old-fashioned mediæval), even in the United Kingdom.The spelling medieval is given priority in both [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/medieval Oxford] and [http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/mediaeval Cambridge] Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Accessed June 2nd, 2024.

In the modern French alphabet, æ (called {{Lang|fr|e-dans-l'a}}, 'e in the a') is used to spell Latin and Greek borrowings like curriculum vitæ, et cætera, ex æquo, tænia, and the first name Lætitia.{{Cite web |title=La ligature æ |url=http://monsu.desiderio.free.fr/curiosites/ligat-ae.html |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=monsu.desiderio.free.fr}} It is mentioned in the name of Serge Gainsbourg's song Elaeudanla Téïtéïa, a reading of the French spelling of the name Lætitia: "L, A, E dans l'A, T, I, T, I, A."{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/i04233221/serge-gainsbourg-elaeudanla-teiteia |title=Serge Gainsbourg "Elaeudanla teïtéïa" {{!}} INA |language=fr |access-date=2024-08-16 |via=www.ina.fr}}

In Classical Latin, the combination AE denotes the diphthong {{IPA|la|aj|}}, which had a value similar to the long i in fine as pronounced in most dialects of Modern English.James Morwood (1999). Latin Grammar, Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-860199-9}}, p. 3 Both classical and present practice is to write the letters separately, but the ligature was used in medieval and early modern writings, in part because æ was reduced to the simple vowel {{IPA|la|ɛ|}} during the Roman Empire. In some medieval scripts, the ligature was simplified to ę, an e with ogonek, called the e caudata (Latin for "tailed e"). That was further simplified into a plain e, which may have influenced or been influenced by the pronunciation change. However, the ligature is still relatively common in liturgical books and musical scores.

Old Norse

In Old Norse, æ represents the long vowel {{IPAslink|ɛː}}. The short version of the same vowel, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, if it is distinguished from {{IPA|/e/}}, is written as ę.

Icelandic

In Icelandic, æ represents the diphthong {{IPA|is|ai|}}, which can be long or short.

Faroese

In most varieties of Faroese, æ is pronounced as follows:

• {{IPA|fo|ɛa|}} when simultaneously stressed and occurring either word-finally, before a vowel letter, before a single consonant letter, or before the consonant-letter groups kl, kr, pl, pr, tr, kj, tj, sj, and those consisting of ð and one other consonant letter, except for ðr when pronounced like gr (except as below)
• a rather open {{IPA|fo|eː|}} when directly followed by the sound {{IPA|fo|a|}}, as in {{Lang|fo|ræðast}} (silent ð) and {{Lang|fo|frægari}} (silent g)
• {{IPA|fo|a|}} in all other cases

One of its etymological origins is Old Norse é (the other is Old Norse æ), which is particularly evident in the dialects of Suðuroy, where Æ is {{IPA|fo|eː|}} or {{IPA|fo|ɛ|}}:

• {{Lang|fo|æða}} (eider): Southern {{IPA|fo|eːa|}}, Northern Faroese {{IPA|fo|ɛava|}}
• {{Lang|fo|ætt}} (family, direction): Southern {{IPA|fo|ɛtː|}}, Northern Faroese {{IPA|fo|atː|}}

German and Swedish

The equivalent letter in German and Swedish is {{Lang|de|ä}}, but it is not located at the same place within the alphabet. In German, it is not a separate letter from "A" but in Swedish, it is the second-to-last letter (between å and ö).

In the normalized spelling of Middle High German, {{Lang|gmh|æ}} represents a long vowel {{IPA|[ɛː]}}. The actual spelling in the manuscripts varies, however.

Danish and Norwegian

File:Denmark-gender.png use {{Lang|da|æ}} as the definite article. Additionally, the northernmost and southernmost of that area use {{Lang|da|Æ}} as the first person singular pronoun I. The two words are different vowels.{{fact|date=August 2024}}]]

In Danish and Norwegian, æ is a separate letter of the alphabet that represents a monophthong. It follows z and precedes ø and å. In Norwegian, there are four ways of pronouncing the letter:

• {{IPA|/æː/}} as in {{Lang|no|æ}} (the name of the letter), {{Lang|no|bær}}, {{Lang|no|Solskjær}}, {{Lang|no|læring}}, {{Lang|no|æra}}, {{Lang|no|Ænes}}, {{Lang|no|ærlig}}, {{Lang|no|tærne}}, {{Lang|no|Kværner}}, {{Lang|no|Dæhlie}}, {{Lang|no|særs}}, {{Lang|no|ærfugl}}, {{Lang|no|lært}}, {{Lang|no|trær}} ("trees")
• {{IPA|/æ/}} as in {{Lang|no|færre}}, {{Lang|no|æsj}}, {{Lang|no|nærmere}}, {{Lang|no|Færder}}, {{Lang|no|Skjærvø}}, {{Lang|no|ærverdig}}, {{Lang|da|vært}}, {{Lang|da|lærd}}, {{Lang|da|Bræin}} (where {{Lang|da|æi}} is pronounced as a diphthong {{IPA|/æi/}})
• {{IPA|/eː/}} as in {{Lang|no|Sæther}}, {{Lang|no|Næser}}, {{Lang|no|Sæbø}}, {{Lang|no|gælisk}}, {{Lang|no|spælsau}}, {{Lang|no|bevæpne}}, {{Lang|no|sæd}}, {{Lang|no|æser}}, {{Lang|no|Cæsar}}, {{Lang|no|væte}}, {{Lang|no|trær}} ("thread(s)" [verb])
• {{IPA|/e/}} as in {{Lang|no|Sæth}}, {{Lang|no|Næss}}, {{Lang|no|Brænne}}, {{Lang|no|Bækkelund}}, {{Lang|no|Vollebæk}}, {{Lang|no|væske}}, {{Lang|no|trædd}}

In many northern, western, and southwestern Norwegian dialects such as Trøndersk and in the western Danish dialects of {{Lang|da|Thy|italic=no}} and Southern Jutland, the word "I" (Standard Danish: {{Lang|da|jeg}}, Bokmål Norwegian: {{Lang|no|jeg}}, Nynorsk Norwegian: {{Lang|no|eg}}) is pronounced {{IPA|/æː/}}.{{Cite web |last=Albert |first=Daniel |date=2022-06-24 |title=Trøndersk: The Dialects of Middle Norway |url=https://www.lifeinnorway.net/trondersk-dialect/ |access-date=2023-10-18 |website=Life in Norway |language=en-US}} Thus, when this word is written as it is pronounced in these dialects (rather than the standard), it is often spelled with the letter "æ".

In western and southern Jutish dialects of Danish, {{Lang|da|æ}} is also the proclitic definite article: {{Lang|da|æ hus}} (the house), as opposed to Standard Danish and all other Nordic varieties which have enclitic definite articles (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian: {{Lang|da|huset}}; Icelandic, Faroese: {{Lang|is|húsið}} [the house]).

File:Oseta latina skribo.jpg Latin script; part of a page from a book published in 1935]]

Ossetian used the letter æ when it was written using the Latin script from 1923 to 1938. Since then, Ossetian has used a Cyrillic alphabet with an identical-looking letter (Ӕ and ӕ). It is pronounced as a near-open central vowel {{angbr IPA|ɐ}}.

The letter Æ is used in the official orthography of Kawésqar spoken in Chile and also in that of the Fuegian language Yaghan.

The symbol {{IPA|[æ]}} is also used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to denote a near-open front unrounded vowel like in the word cat in many dialects of Modern English, which is the sound that was most likely represented by the Old English letter. In the IPA, it is always in lowercase. {{unichar|10783|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AE}} is a superscript IPA letter.{{Cite web|title=L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf|date=2020-11-08|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Michael|last2=Ashby}}

Uralic Phonetic Alphabet

The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA) uses four additional æ-related symbols, see Unicode table below.{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|authorlink1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal}}

{{Columnslist|colwidth=28em|

• {{unichar|00C6|LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE}}
• {{unichar|00E6|LATIN SMALL LETTER AE}}
• {{unichar|01E2|LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE WITH MACRON}}
• {{unichar|01E3|LATIN SMALL LETTER AE WITH MACRON}}
• {{unichar|01FC|LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AE WITH ACUTE}}
• {{unichar|01FD|LATIN SMALL LETTER AE WITH ACUTE}}
• {{unichar|1D01|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL AE}} (UPA)
• {{unichar|1D02|LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED AE}} (UPA)
• {{unichar|1D2D|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL AE}} (UPA)
• {{unichar|1D46|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED AE}} (UPA)
• {{unichar|1DD4|COMBINING LATIN SMALL LETTER AE|cwith=◌}}
• {{unichar|10783|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL AE}} (IPA)

}}

{{columnslist|colwidth=28em|

• AE (Cyrillic)
• Ae (digraph)
• Å
• Ä
• Ę
• Ø
• Ö
• Œ
• Near-open front unrounded vowel (represented by æ in the IPA)
• Ə
• Ansuz rune
• List of English words that may be spelled with a ligature
• Anavae
• Aespa

}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• Robert Bringhurst (2002). The Elements of Typographic Style. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks. {{ISBN|0-88179-205-5}}. p. 271.

• {{Wiktionary inline|Æ}}
• {{Wiktionary inline|Category:English terms spelled with Æ}}
• {{Commonscatinline}}

{{Latin script|Æ}}

{{Danish language}}

{{Norwegian language forms}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ae}}

E

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Category:Latin-script letters

Category:Latin-script ligatures

E

Category:Old English

E

Category:Phonetic transcription symbols

Category:Vowel letters