S-comma facts for kids
The S-comma (big letter: Ș, small letter: ș) is a special letter used in the Romanian alphabet. It helps to make a sound like "sh" in the English word "shoe."
Contents
How the S-comma Started
The idea for the S-comma first appeared in a book called the Buda Lexicon. This book was published a long time ago in 1825. A writer named Petru Maior suggested using this new letter. He wanted to make it easier to write Romanian words correctly.
S-comma in Computers
When computers first started, the S-comma wasn't always available. Instead, people often used a similar letter called S-cedilla (Ş). This was because S-cedilla was already in the computer systems, like Unicode 1.1.0 from 1993.
Sometimes, it was hard to tell the difference between the S-comma and S-cedilla on older screens. In 1999, a group in Romania asked for the S-comma to be added to Unicode. This made it official for computers. Even so, it took a while for all computer programs, like Microsoft Windows XP, to support it. Today, it's much easier to use the S-comma in digital text.
The S-comma is now part of the Unicode system. It has special codes: "Latin capital letter S with comma below" (U+0218) for the big letter and "Latin small letter s with comma below" (U+0219) for the small letter.
How the S-comma is Used
The S-comma (Ș/ș) is very important in the Romanian language. It always makes the "sh" sound, like in the city name Timișoara. If a computer system is very old and doesn't have the S-comma, people might still use the S-cedilla (Ş/ş) instead.
See also
- Ş (S-cedilla)
- Š
- Ț (T-comma)
- D-comma
Images for kids
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The difference between a comma (top) and a cedilla (bottom) in the Times New Roman font. The cedilla is placed higher.
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The "half moon" S, a letter proposed in the Buda Lexicon.
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S-cedilla, T-cedilla, and a cedilla shown with a comma in a Romanian spelling book from 1895.
