What does the following letter represent in the German language?
ß
I see it used all the time in German stuff, and it seems more like a Greek letter than Latin. I was just wondering.
It’s called “sz”, but it stands for a “ss”. My real name in German for example is “von Weiß”, but as most English speakers would call me “von Weib” then, I use the “ss” instead.
It has no connection to the Greek “beta” in fact, only looks the same.
Cheers
Claus
It is derived from a ligature. In ancient typo, the “s” sometimes looked rather like an “f” and the “z” resembled a “3” So “f3” became “ß”. It is spoken as a “hard” s, like in… “whißle”
Christian
In a radical departure from normal German clarity about rules, this is as far as I know one of the features of German spelling which have been “sort of but not quite” abolished, leaving lots of people perplexed and required to make up their own house rules.
On 2002-09-19 07:33, Roger O’Keeffe wrote:
In a radical departure from normal German clarity about rules, this is as far as I know one of the features of German spelling which have been “sort of but not quite” abolished, leaving lots of people perplexed and required to make up their own house rules.
Not quite true. Indeed, since German spelling was reformed some years ago,the usage of ß has become much easier. Of course, it could have been dispensed with altogehter (like in German-speaking Switzerland).
Christian
… and another rule is that if you have it after an a, o or u the vowel is usually a long spoken one and after an i or an e it is often a fast spoken s… but not always 
German is a nice language to learn, Colin would agree to that
Brigitte