æsc

plural æscas · alternative æsh · alternative ash

1. The name of the Latin script letter Æ/æ.

   2 more examples

   Certain voicing of consonants in medial positions, long unrepresented in standard West Saxon, are now recorded in spelling (lufian becomes luvien), and there are significant changes also in the representation of vowels. The letter æ (æsc) disappears completely and is replaced by a, for the short vowel, or e/ea, for the long vowel.

   1997, Derek Pearsall, “Language and Literature”, in Nigel Saul, editor, The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval England, page 257

   In this story, I have changed the rune letters wyn (ƿ), yogh (ȝ), and thorn (þ) and eth (ð) into the Roman characters w, g, and th, which indicate almost the same consonant sounds to Modern English readers. I have kept one letter, æsc (æ), in its Old English form, in part because there is no good Modern English equivalent, and because it represents the principal sound in my main character’s name. The letter æsc (æ) in an Old English word should be pronounced like the short a of our word “cat.” So the name “Æthelflæd” rhymes with “apple-glad,” and the nickname “Flæd” rhymes with “glad.” (As Flæd herself will demonstrate, the name of this letter, æsc, is pronounced “ash.”)

   2003, Rebecca Tingle, The edge on the sword, New York: Speak/Penguin