Œ
| Π| |
|---|---|
| Œ œ ɶ | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Type | Alphabet |
| Unicode codepoint | U+0152 |
| History | |
| Development | |
| Other | |
| Writing direction | Left-to-right |
Π(
It is used in the modern orthography for
Its traditional name in English is ethel or œthel (also spelt, ēðel, odal).
Latin
Classical Latin wrote the o and e separately (as has today again become the general practice), but the ligature was used by medieval and early modern writings, in part because the diphthongal sound had, by Late Latin, merged into the sound [e]. The classical diphthong had the value [oe̯], similar to (standard) English oi as in choice. It occurs most often in borrowings from Greek, rendering that language's οι (in majuscule ΟΙ), although it is also used in some native words such as coepi "I began".
French
In French, œ is called e dans l'o [ə dɑ̃ lo], which means e in the o (a
French also uses œ in direct borrowings from Latin and Greek. So, "coeliac" in French is cœliaque. In such cases, the œ is classically pronounced [e], or, sometimes, in modern pronunciation, [œ]. In some words, like phénix and économique, the etymological œ is changed to a more French é.
In French placenames of German origin (mostly in and around
In all cases, œ is alphabetized as oe, rather than as a separate letter.
When oe occurs in French without the ligature, it is pronounced /wa/, just like words spelt with oi. The most common words of this type are poêle ("stove", "frying pan") and moelleux ("soft"). poêle is itself an etymological spelling, with the ê reflecting its derivation from Latin patella. If the oe is not to be pronounced thus, then a diaeresis, acute or grave accent needs to be added in order to indicate that the vowels should be pronounced separately. For example, Noël, poésie, poète. The exception to this rule is when a morpheme ending in o is joined to one beginning in e, as in électroencéphalogramme, or with the prefix co-, which is always pronounced /ko/ in hiatus with the following vowel, as in coefficient ("ratio", "coefficient").
Lombard
In Lombard "œ" represents in many writing systems, sometimes along with "u", the /øː/ phoneme. For example: tegnœura (bat).
English
A number of words written with œ were borrowed from French and from Latin into English, where the œ is now rarely written. Modern American English spelling usually substitutes œ with e, so diarrhœa has become diarrhea, although there are some exceptions, such as phoenix. In modern British English, the spellings generally keep the o but remove the ligature (e.g. diarrhoea).
The œ ~ oe ~ e is traditionally pronounced as "short Ĕ" /ɛ/, as "long Ē" /iː/, or as an (unrounded) unstressed vowel. These three Modern-English values interchange with one another in consistent ways, just as do the values within each of the sets from the other vowel-spellings that at the Middle English stage likewise represented non-diphthongs — except for, as was recognised particularly in certain positions by Dobson[2]: 495 a tendency whereby
- "... long vowels are, in later use, often substituted ... cf. Pres(ent-Day) E(nglish) [iːkənɒmik] 'economic' in place of the popular [ekənɒmik], which (latter) is in accord with the normal rules and must be regarded as the traditional and naturally-developed pronunciation ...".
There are a few words that English has recently borrowed from
However, most œ words use the traditional English pronunciation of borrowings from/via pre-modern French and from/via Latin. Examples are listed in the following categories, into which they have been divided by developments in our pronunciation since Middle English.
- An overriding rule is that where œ ~ oe ~ e is followed by another vowel (whatever the position(s) of stress(es) in the word), it is pronounced as a long Ē (/iː/).
- Examples: onomatopœic, homœomorphism.
- In enunciation is desired, an additional (secondary) stress can be added, resulting in a long Ē (/iː/).
- Examples: .
- A long Ē (-cide if they do not affect the pronunciationof the rest of the word).
- Examples: Crœsus, and amœba.
- Examples:
- A long Ē (/iː/) is used for œ ~ oe ~ e in primary-stressed open syllables that lie in the third-to-final position (antepenultimate syllables) if the final syllable begins with a vowel and the penultimate (second-to-last) ends in a vowel other than o or u (or did prior to a blending of that vowel with the preceding consonant).
- Examples: Mœsia(n), which (depending on the dialect) equal /ˈsiːliæk/ and /ˈmiːʒə(n)/ ~ /ˈmiːʃə(n)/ ~ /ˈmiːsiə(n)/~/ˈmiːziə(n)/.
- Examples:
- Finally, there are some cases where a short Ĕ /ɛ/ is used, as what Dobson called in the quote above the "naturally-developed pronunciation" though "the long vowels are, in later use, often substituted":[2][page needed]
- for an œ ~ oe ~ e lying in a secondarily-stressed (open or œstrogenic;
- for an œ ~ oe ~ e in a œstrogen, and œstrus;
- for an œ ~ oe ~ e in a primary-stressed syllable that does not lie within the final two syllables of the word (except for words like cœliac and Mœsia(n), see above).
- Examples: .
The likes of fœ̯tid, though superficially exceptional here, do indeed belong here in this category because the counting properly includes also
As less-circumstantial evidence (than this word's modern short Ĕ /ɛ/) that it contained the final -e, consider both the spelling of its earliest attestation in English recorded by the NED,[3] within "It maketh to blister both handes, & feet, out of which issueth foetide, and stinckinge water." (in a text dating to 1599). And from the immediate ancestor of the word, lying between it and Latin's fœtidus, -a, -um, namely, Anglo-Norman fetide, attested 13th century.[a]
Other Germanic languages
- Old Norse
Œ is used in the modern scholarly orthography of Old West Norse, representing the long vowel /øː/, contrasting with ø, which represents the short vowel /ø/. Sometimes, the ǿ is used instead for Old West Norse, maintaining consistency with the designation of the length of the other vowels, e.g. mǿðr "mothers".
- Middle High German
Œ is also used to express long /øː/ in the modern scholarly orthography of Middle High German. It contrasts ö, pronounced as a short /œ/.
- (Modern) German
Œ is not used in modern German. Loanwords using œ are generally rendered ö, e.g. Ösophagus. A common exception is the French word Œuvre[6] and its compounds (e.g. Œuvreverzeichnis[7] It remains used in Swiss German, especially in the names of people and places.
- Danish
Œ is not used in Danish, just like German, but unlike German, Danish replaces œ or œu in loan-words with ø, as in økonomi "economy" from Greek via Latin œconomia or bøf "beef" from French bœuf. œ, mainly lowercase, has historically been used as a typeface alternative to æ in Danish.
Transcription
The symbol [œ] is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for the open-mid front rounded vowel. This sound resembles the "œu" in the French œuf or the "ö" in the German öffnen. These contrast with French feu and German schön, which have the close-mid front rounded vowel, [ø].
The small capital variant [ɶ] represents the open front rounded vowel in the IPA. Modifier letter small ligature oe (ꟹ) is used in extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet.[8]
U+107A3 𐞣 MODIFIER LETTER SMALL CAPITAL OE is used as an IPA superscript letter.[9]
The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA) includes U+1D14 ᴔ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OE.[10]
The Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses several related symbols:[11]
- ꭀ U+AB40 ꭀ LATIN SMALL LETTER INVERTED OE
- ꭁ U+AB41 ꭁ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OE WITH STROKE
- ꭂ U+AB42 ꭂ LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED OE WITH HORIZONTAL STROKE
Encodings
In
Œ and œ/ɶ were omitted from
The above-mentioned small capital of the International Phonetic Alphabet is encoded at U+0276 ɶ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL OE.
See also
Footnotes
- ^
In medical texts find: "pissade",[4] "fetide",[4] "laureole";[4] "spatule fetide";[4] (the source text that can be most narrowly dated is a manuscript of Roger of Salerno (c. 1240) Chirurgia).[full citation needed]
— within parallels that English has to the fœtid, such as acid, arid, avid, placid, rabid, rapid, sapid, squalid, valid, vapid; gelid, intrepid, tepid; frigid, insipid, liquid, livid, rigid, timid, viscid, vivid; florid, solid, and stolid. The stressed syllable's vowel likewise has its short value. Or rather, had one of its short values, in the special case where either a preceding /w/ or a following /r/ has created a special short value.
Middle-Englishancestors of our Modern-Standard dialects used in any open syllable as closest approximation to that sound of the French the diphthong which they spelled in non-Romance words as iw or similar.
- "... that this was the only development is difficult, though not impossible, to reconcile with the rarity, in the fourteenth century, of the inverted spelling u(e) for the native diphthong [iu] and with the fact that cultivated poets like Chaucer and Gower rhyme O[ld ]Fr[ench] [y] with native [iu] relatively seldom, especially considering the usefulness of such rhymes,[5]therefore suggests that in cultivated speech the pronunciation [y:] was maintained."
- "... that this was the only development is difficult, though not impossible, to reconcile with the rarity, in the fourteenth century, of the inverted spelling u(e) for the native diphthong [iu] and with the fact that cultivated poets like
References
- ^ Hall, John R. Clark (1962). A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. p. 108. s.v. "ēðel name of the rune for œ ɶ".
- ^ a b c Dobson, E.J. (1968) [1957]. English Pronunciation 1500-1700 (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: The Clarendon Press.
- ^ Murray, James A.H.; et al., eds. (1887–1933). A New English Dictionary Founded on Historical Principles: Founded mainly on the materials collected by the Philological Society. Vol. 4. London, UK: Henry Frowde. p. 188 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c d de Wilde, G.; et al. (eds.). Anglo-Norman Dictionary (online ed.). Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ Jordan, Richard (1925). Handbuch der mittelenglischen Grammatik [Handbook of Middle English Grammar]. Vol. I: Lautlehre. Heidelberg, DE: Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung. §230, especially the last paragraph of p. 204.
- ^ "ouvre". Duden (online ed.).
- ^ "ouvreverzeichnis". Duden (online ed.).
- ^ Pentzlin, Karl (2010-04-30). "Proposal to encode two missing modifier letters for extended IPA" (PDF). L2/10-161.
- ^ Miller, Kirk; Ashby, Michael (2020-11-08). "L2/20-252R: Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic" (PDF).
- ^ Everson, Michael; et al. (2002-03-20). "Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). L2/02-141.
- ^ Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (2011-06-02). "Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF). L2/11-202.
Bibliography
- De Wilde, G. et al., eds. "Anglo-Norman Dictionary". Accessed 4 April 2017.
- Dobson, E. J. English Pronunciation 1500-1700. 2 vols. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1957; 2nd ed., 1968.
- Jordan, Richard. Handbuch der mittenglischen Grammatik, I. Teil: Lautlehre. Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1925.
- Murray, James A. H. et al., eds. A New English Dictionary Founded on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society. 10 vols + an 11th which contains "Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography". London: Henry Frowde, 1887–1933.
External links
- Reimer, Stephen R. (30 May 2015) [2 December 1998]. "Special characters in English manuscripts" (course notes). Paleography. Edmonton, AB: University of Alberta. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
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