At the end of June, the German Spelling Council decided to add a capital ß (Eszett) to the language, bringing to an end a debate that had raged on in the world of German orthography since the 19th century. The German Spelling Council defended the decision, saying that it is important for officialdom to be able to distinguish between a name spelled with a double s and one spelled with an ß. A letter with a turbulent historyThe Eszett only exists in German and was the only letter in the German language that previously had no capital version. The German Spelling Council was created in the resultant atmosphere of unrest to find compromise solutions and reinstate “linguistic peace” in the land. Other changes to German writing made by the German Spelling Council at the end of June were the prohibition of certain “Germanized” ways of writing foreign words.

Source: The Local July 11, 2017 09:00 UTC