Genealogy Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Boards

Quick Search

Single word search

Tools

Findmypast DNA Banner

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Does anyone know why 'ss' was written as 'fs' ?

Login to Add Reply Watch This
ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Clare

Clare Report 28 Aug 2007 16:19

Hi All
Does anyone know why 'ss' was written as 'fs' as in Drefsmaker instead of Dressmaker?
It has been bugging me for a while,
Cheers Clare

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 28 Aug 2007 16:32

That was how Old English was written...the double 'S' has evolved comparatively recently.

Reg

Paul Barton, Special Agent

Paul Barton, Special Agent Report 28 Aug 2007 16:32

The Germans continue to use it as a double-s.

Clare

Clare Report 28 Aug 2007 16:39

Cheers All
Thanks for your replies
Would still like to know the reason why it was done that way

Clare

Clare Report 28 Aug 2007 17:33

Thanks T

Judith

Judith Report 28 Aug 2007 18:09

Firstly technically it wasn't written as fs; it was written with a long s which looked a bit like an f but didn't have a cross stroke. Try looking at some old writing and you will see there was a difference. The long s was a letter in its own right in the alphabet, just like the symbol for "th" which looked a bit like a y and has led to lots of places being wrongly called "ye olde tea shoppe" when the original lettering would have been sounded as the, not ye.
Secondly this long s existed in English language long before Victorian times - have a look at
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/doc1/default.htm and see it used in a letter written in 1554 by princess (later Queen) Elizabeth.

Sue

Sue Report 28 Aug 2007 20:13

T,

Sadly no-one told my lot that it wasn't fashionable to use fs as it is in most of my documents from late 1700's through to late 1800's. It makes reading a pain, especially for place names!

Sue