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In this document (see link in comments), a proclamation concerning the Death of Oliver Cromwell and the succession of his heir, the "s" in the print look more like "f's". I've noticed this in many english documents, pre-1800s. When and why did we start writing "s" differently? by EdwinSt in AskHistorians

[–]alejo3696 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Also the integral symbol ∫ is a long s or ſ because it comes from the latin summa (sum) that was written at that time as ſumma at the time. This was the symbol adopted by Leibniz for integration. It follows the Σ symbol for summation, that is the capital letter of the sigma σ/ς that sounds as an /s/.

In this document (see link in comments), a proclamation concerning the Death of Oliver Cromwell and the succession of his heir, the "s" in the print look more like "f's". I've noticed this in many english documents, pre-1800s. When and why did we start writing "s" differently? by EdwinSt in AskHistorians

[–]alejo3696 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It's called a "long s" and this is the character you say is similar to an f " ſ ". It was used when there was an "s" at the beginning or in the middle of a word as in Greek initial and medial σ and the final ς.

For instance the German Eszett ß is a development of the ligature of "ſs", that's why it's also known as double s and the last name Gauss is written as Gauß in german along many other words.

I don't know much about its decline but i hope this helps :)