A, the German Kurrent letter a

History

The letter A occupies the 1st position in the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents an open central unrounded vowel, appearing both as long /aː/ in words like 'Vater' and short /a/ in words like 'Mann'.

In German Kurrent, lowercase a is drawn with an introductory hairline rising from the baseline into a rounded oval counter, which closes on the right and drops into a firm vertical downstroke that turns sharply upward to link to following letters. Capital A begins with a sweeping base loop that climbs diagonally to a sharp peak before plunging down with a weighted right stem and an internal cross-tie.

As the first letter of the alphabet, a appears constantly in baptismal registers, land deeds, and correspondence. Common formulas like 'am Tage' (on the day) or given names such as 'Anna' and 'August' provide frequent reference examples for paleographers transcribing eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German records.

Apart from foreign words and names, a is the only German letter^[1] that can stand doubled at the start of a word, as in Aal (eel).^[2] It is also the sixth most frequent letter in German text, at about 6.5% of all letters.^[3]