Writing Systems Emmett Stone Writing Systems Emmett Stone

2145: Icelandic Cursive: ð, æ, and þ

There are certain letters including ð, æ, þ, ƿ, and ʒ (all represented in the lower case) which used to exist in English writing but no longer do. That said, three of these ð (like in 'THe'), æ (as in 'At'), and þ (as in 'THin') are still used in Icelandic. This raises the question: how are these written in cursive. Especially considering that Æ/æ was actually from Latin unlike the other Germanic ones, despite its current name 'ash' coming from the ash tree Germanic rune ᚫ which preceded it has a longer history. There are examples in the photo below from an Icelandic document from the 1920's. Indeed, all letter of these letters and more would have cursive form, especially since this was more popular in the past.

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