A, the Sütterlin letter a

History

The letter A is the 1st letter of 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 Sütterlin, lowercase a was reformed by Ludwig Sütterlin into an upright circular oval with no cursive slant, adhering strictly to the 1:1:1 vertical proportion between middle zone and extenders. It is executed with a counter-clockwise circle followed by a straight vertical downstroke terminating in a rounded base hook. Capital A features an upright oval body with an internal loop and a vertical right stroke.

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.

The Phoenicians named the letter aleph, ox,^[1] and the Greeks turned the sign through 90 degrees to make alpha.^[2] In the Sütterlin model the umlaut mark over ä is shaped like the letter e.^[3]