'old English'

[Matheous-2]

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.

[ABerrant]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s

[atalanta]

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"

[Matheous-2]

Thank you for your knowledgable response atalanta....

[Mosaic]

Like all these things, you're looking at the spread of fashions, but it's usually the case that the curly s isn't found after 1800.

[Mosaic]

oh damn - curly 's' prevails after 1800.

[jno]

It was used in Fraktur, the old German gothic typeface, until WW2, when Hitler abolished it.

http://youworkforthem...pe/T1515/T1515_03.jpg

[ABerrant]

"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.

[Matheous-2]

ABerrant - thank you for your extensive info. Quite surprising to note that the extended s was used right up to the 1860s. I found it amusing to substitute the s for an f sound! Thanking you again.