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As we may all know, ligatures and diæreses have long become obsolescent. However, I see the logic behind spelling words with ligatures and diæreses. For example: algæ, formulæ, æon, æqulateral, æternal, œuvre, œsophagus, fœderal, coöperation, aëroplane, etc.

Is it acceptable that I spell similar words as such (i.e. in modern use: papers, theses, publications)? Are there any disadvantages or drawbacks?

If I do spell these words with ligatures and diæreses, does it mean that I have to use obsolete spellings for all the words or I can choose?

If spellings such as paediatric, foetus, anaesthesia are encouraged in BrE (and medical/formal contexts), does it mean that all the other words should be spelt with ae or oe as well?

Helmar
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Veo
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  • I have no definitive answer - but I certainly still use diaereses, although it's too hard to hunt for the ligatures in most contexts. Am I wrong? Possibly. Does anyone notice? Not really. I also don't limit it to formal contexts - I'd happily use aeon in an email because that's just how I spell the word. – Prof Yaffle May 20 '16 at 20:14
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    The biggest difficulty is the inability of others to edit or quote your work in the same form, since this use is beyond many typographical systems, or at least the skill of the operator. And you do not explain the logic that you say you see, especially with regard to ligatures. – bib May 20 '16 at 20:15
  • @ProfYaffle do you know if we can choose to spell a word however we want (out of the possible ways in the dialect we're using, of course)? – Veo May 20 '16 at 20:15
  • @bib Those words derive either from ancient Greek or Latin; I think their original forms should be preserved as much as possible. – Veo May 20 '16 at 20:18
  • @Veo If it's within that dialect, yes. Using colour if you're using US English would be wrong; but UK English would support both jail and gaol as spellings (even if you'd get slightly odd looks for the latter). English isn't as prescriptive as, say, French: there's no Académie anglais that polices the "pure" language, and spelling changes are thus through common usage rather than being mandated. UK medical texts thus now use anesthetic, but anaesthetic is still perfectly acceptable, and - subject to caveats on typesetting, above - I'd suggest that anæsthetic would be too. – Prof Yaffle May 20 '16 at 20:21
  • Yeah, but then we start to slide into v for u and the risk of non-standard pronunciation (or even non-recognition) starts to rise. And many would find it very pretentious. I'm a bigger fan of trying to get people to correctly pronounce non-English term, whether from languages living or dead. – bib May 20 '16 at 20:24
  • @bib I believe we use diæreses to emphasise the correct spelling. However, do you think that people would have difficulties pronouncing ligatures? – Veo May 20 '16 at 20:29
  • @Veo Be aware of the difference in UK and US spelling - US doesn't use diaereses, but UK does except in certain technical "aligning with the US" contexts (e.g. https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/aeon). That's where I'd disagree with bib, it's not non-standard over here. – Prof Yaffle May 20 '16 at 20:41
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    @ProfYaffle I use ligatures and diaereses for the same reason that I comb my hair, and eat with a knife and fork. It is out of respect for the culture into which I was born. – WS2 May 20 '16 at 20:51
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    Are we all talking about the same thing here? I read the OP as talking about single fused glyphs like æ, instead of the two distinct typed characters like ae in words like æon/aeon.

    I propose there are three spelling modes -- archaic, British, and US -- as in encyclopædia / encyclopaedia / encyclopedia. The question is whether the archaic form is acceptable, right?

     – Steve Cooper May 20 '16 at 21:05
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    Partial overlap: Are vowel ligatures common in any disciplines these days?, From French “manœuvre” to English “manoeuvre”, does “œ” exist in English?, Is the word “formulæ” valid English? – herisson May 20 '16 at 21:28
  • @SteveCooper Is there a correct hairstyle? – WS2 May 21 '16 at 06:08
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    When I see these types of constructs in written in modern (American) English, I generally consider the writer to be a pompous twit bent upon impressing the unwashed with his or her mad writing skillz. It thus detracts from the message. – Tony Ennis May 21 '16 at 15:48
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    @TonyEnnis And when they are not there it suggests to me that our Western culture is being dumbed down at every turn, everything made simple for ever more simple people - the Macdonaldisation of society, with free toys. So it seems the choice we are collectively proposing is that between being a pompous twit or a simpleton! – WS2 May 21 '16 at 22:49
  • Why single out Latin and Greek specifically? Why only diaereses and the particular ligatures œ and æ? How about the circumflex in rôle? The cedilla in façade? The tilde in piñata? The umlaut in Übermensch? The umlaut and edh in fjörð? The umlaut and cedilla in kiöşk? The slash and ogonek in złoty and pączki? The hook and horn in phở? – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 09 '16 at 13:05

3 Answers3

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Ligatures and diaereses are not generally used in modern English text. However, whether or not they are "acceptable" depends on many factors.

The easiest way to judge if something is acceptable is if you have an institutional style guide that you're supposed to follow. Any reasonably complete style guide should cover this topic. I believe the most common practice in formal contexts is to only use ligatures and diaereses in words from foreign languages, not including Greek or Latin (so œuvre might be spelled with a ligature, and Noël might be spelled with a diaeresis) and in official names such as Encyclopædia Britannica. The New Yorker still uses the diaeresis to indicate hiatus in some English words such as coöperation, but this is unusual and perceived as quaint. I don't think even they would use a diaeresis in aëroplane since the second vowel in this word is elided for nearly all speakers.

In words from Latin or Greek, the ligatures æ œ will be perceived as stylistic variants of the digraphs ae oe. These ligatures are not generally used in modern typography.

Words that can't have a ligature because they are spelled with e

Several of the words you listed in your original question are never spelled with a ligature or a digraph in Modern English. Æquilateral/aequilateral, æternal/aeternal, fœderal/foederal are all entirely obsolete. These words are always spelled equilateral, eternal, federal. You can find out which spellings are in general use by looking up the word in a dictionary.

All modern English is inconsistent in this regard: while the specifics vary, both Brits and Americans can only have ae/oe in some words, and can only have e in others. You should not try to spell consistently based on the etymology: there is no way to do this without using non-standard spellings.

Words where you can choose between e and ae/oe

You only have a choice for some words. For example, æon and œsophagus may be written with just e or with a digraph (rendering these digraphs as ligatures would not be usual style, but it would not look too strange in my opinion). In some cases, one choice is standard for a particular variety of English (for example, oesophagus is standard in British English but not in American English).

herisson
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  • To recapitulate, can I spell words spelt with ae and oe with ligatures? – Veo May 21 '16 at 07:53
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    @Veo Yes, if it's consistent with your style guide (your own or that of whatever body governs what you're writing). It would be unusual in normal use, and would be seen as a little archaic, but if it's part of the normal look-and-feel then I'd say it's acceptable. In normal life, though, it would be seen as a bit of an affectation (like spellings such as demesne and faerie - both of which I would use, however :) ). – Prof Yaffle May 21 '16 at 08:30
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    It's merely quaint when The New Yorker writes "coöperation." From almost anybody else using US English, it's an affectation that would make me question why the writer felt compelled to do that. If you insist on spelling "federal" as "fœderal" and you aren't intentionally putting on an archaic air (or quoting an original text), you simply look foolish. – Zach Lipton May 21 '16 at 09:41
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It's no longer acceptable or helpful;

It's so old-fashioned that it has become an affectation, and will result in your writing being judged poorly.

It's acceptable if you're quoting a language that uses them (that is, if you'd also italicise the word to show it's a foreign word) but modern English doesn't have them.

Steve Cooper
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    The OP was asking about ligatures and diaereses: the latter are very current and correct, at least in BrE. Indeed, the former remain correct in some style guides as well, e.g. p23: https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf – Prof Yaffle May 20 '16 at 21:19
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    P23 has non-ligatured forms like 'formulae' at 8 characters. Did I miss something? Was expecting to see something like 'formulæ' (7 characters) – Steve Cooper May 20 '16 at 21:26
  • Also, I don't think I've ever seen 'coöperate' or 'aëroplane' in Britain. – Steve Cooper May 20 '16 at 21:29
  • You missed "archæology, hæmatology, orthopædics" on the preceding page. – herisson May 20 '16 at 22:47
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    Is the "Association of Art Editors" (apparently an American organization) an authority on "English", or on "American English"? Or haven't they noticed that other countries (Britain, Canada, Australia, etc) use a different spelling conventions?. Also, I'm reluctant to accept the idea that the Wikipedia guide is an authority on anything except Wikipedia. – alephzero May 21 '16 at 00:51
  • @ProfYaffle Diaereses are extremely rare in British English. Some people write naive with a diaresis and some people are called Zoë or Chloë. Diaereses are completely obsolete in cases where the diphthong can be indicated by a hyphen (e.g., co-operate and re-enter) -- indeed, even the hyphen in those cases is pretty much obsolete too. – David Richerby May 21 '16 at 01:01
  • @SteveCooper you probably don't spell "cooperate" with a hyphen either, but the www.co-operativebank.co.uk/ stlll does! "Aëroplane" is well past its sell-by date, but it was common 100 years ago, e.g.. https://archive.org/details/principlesdesign00chatrich. BTW my (Microsoft, I presume, unless this site has a different one) spelling checker autocorrects to naïve, and who am I to argue with Americans about my (British) native language! – alephzero May 21 '16 at 01:07
  • @alephzero my spellchecker leaves naive and naïve alone, suggesting either is OK. This conversation has taught my phone's autocorrect to spell it 'coöperate,'dammit! 'The Co-operative' is a brand name from 100 years ago so might not change as usage changes. As to the style guides - those were the style guides I found on the web that said no. If you find any that say to prefer the single-glyph forms, stuck then in an answer and I'll upvote. -- Steve Coöper – Steve Cooper May 21 '16 at 06:44
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One of the advantages of using non-WYSIWYG typesetting software such as LaTeX is that it takes care of ligatures for you (and respects the style settings put in effect by the journal editor).

See https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ligatures

This won't automatically produce any of the ligature examples in your question, probably because they aren't proper style in modern formal writing.

Community
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Ben Voigt
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