Fraktur
16th century – 1941 · German, Scandinavian and Central European printing
Alphabet
The letters as they are drawn. Compare them with the record: it is the shape that counts, not the size.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
ÄÖÜ
äöüß
ſ
Reading traps
| What you think you see | What it may be | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|---|
| f | s | The long s (ſ) has only a half-stroke to the left of the stem; the f crosses it right through. When in doubt, read the whole word: “Waſſer” is not “Waffer”. |
| b | k · h | The Fraktur k opens a loop to the right; the b closes its bowl against the stem. |
| c | e · r | The c stays open and round; the e carries a clear horizontal bar across the middle. |
| n | m · u | Count the strokes: three for m, two for n and u. The u often carries a hook the n lacks. |
| v | b · r | The v rises to a point on the right; the r stops on a shoulder. |
| i | j | As capitals, I and J are the SAME shape in Fraktur. Only the word decides: Johann, Jacob, but Israel. |
| y | ij | In Dutch text set in Fraktur, y often stands for the digraph ij. |
Ligatures and vanished letters
| ſ | reads s | long s, at the start and inside a word |
| ß | reads ss | ligature of ſ and z, called eszett |
| ch | reads ch | drawn in one stroke; do not split it into two letters |
| ck | reads ck | |
| ſt | reads st | |
| tz | reads tz |
Write it to compare
Type a name you think you recognise: it appears in this script, to be set against the strokes in front of you.
Decoder
Type what you think you read, in today's letters. The decoder offers the neighbouring readings — one substitution at a time, because two stacked guesses can no longer be checked.
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