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.
February 3, 2026 — 6:38 pm
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