Aaaaaaaa
I was trying to type Æthelred earlier – as you do – and I asked my robot friend what that letter was called. And to draw me one.
It’s called Æ — the letter “ash” (pronounced like “ash”).
It’s a ligature (two letters combined) of A + E, used in Old English / Anglo-Saxon (and also Old Norse, Latin in some cases).
Example: Æthelred, Ælfred.
Æ (ash) is usually pronounced like the “a” in “cat” — /æ/.
So it sounds like:“a” in cat / hat / apple
kind of like “ah-eh” quickly blended
Example:
Ælfred ≈ AL-fred (with the “AL” like “cat” but shorter).
Huh. I did not know that. I pronounced more like E. I guess I got carried away with Ethel in Æthelred. Nice picture, though, robot.
Posted: February 3rd, 2026 under personal.
Comments: 8
Comments
Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 3, 2026, 7:56 pm
This is good information to know. I have a fourth Great-Grandfather named Ethelred. He’s shown as a Lieutenant and served in Virginia, but is listed in the in the Georgia Roster of the Revolution, too. He’s not shown in the DAR list of Patriots, but I have enough proofs now to get him approved, which I’ll work on this summer.
In a variation of good news, bad news, the DAR is more than two years behind on approving supplemental applications, and Ethelred will take even longer since he’s never had someone apply on his behalf. Thousands of applications poured in during the Covid years.
I guess I need to call him Ah-thel-red not Ethelred.
Comment from durnedyankee
Time: February 3, 2026, 8:40 pm
Is this the guy who was unready?
And why couldn’t they just use nice English letters instead of these weirdo letters!
Were they French?!
Comment from ẞØMÊ VËÆĞȚĄBŁË
Time: February 3, 2026, 8:58 pm
Like this? Æ
It’s a special character available in my iPad keyboard by holding down the capital letter A.
Comment from ExpressoBold Pureblood
Time: February 3, 2026, 9:08 pm
Æ
Also available through the Windoze Character Map and the keypad code combination Alt 0198.
Ta-Daaaa!
Comment from Veeshir
Time: February 4, 2026, 1:14 am
I always pronounced it like a long a like in aid.
You learn something new every day.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 4, 2026, 6:34 pm
He was indeed known as The Unready.
My cousin’s kid (isn’t that first cousin once removed or second cousin?) did all the paperwork for the DAR (also Daughters of the Confederacy) but I could never be bothered to run it down on my own behalf.
Comment from peacelovewoodstock
Time: February 4, 2026, 7:06 pm
Shouldn’t that be The UnrÆdy?
Comment from Uncle AL
Time: February 4, 2026, 11:41 pm
@peacelovewoodstock — Do you mean unrᴂdy by chance? (-:
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