long ess

English

Noun

long ess (plural long esses)

1. Alternative form of long s
   • 1895, M[oses] J[asper] Martin, Inductive German Method (The Werner Modern Language Series), book first, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Werner School Book Company, page 6:

     Long ess, ſ, is used at the beginning or in the middle of a word or syllable;

   • 2001, Journal of the Printing Historical Society, page 11:

     There are also a few examples of books printed at around this time in which the long and short esses appear willy-nilly, due, no doubt, to an attempt to abandon the older usage, which partly failed due to carelessness, habit or lack of understanding on the part of the compositors involved.

   • 2009, “A Note to the Reader”, in Passing the Torch of Liberty to a New Generation, Powder Springs, Ga.: American Vision Press, →ISBN, page xvii:

     “Short esses” (s) appear at the end of words, and “long esses” are never used for an upper case S.