muß

Muß is an archaic or variant spelling of the German auxiliary verb müssen, meaning “to have to” or “must.” It appears mainly in older German texts and in contexts that preserve historical orthography, but it is not used in contemporary standard German.

The form Muß reflects pre-reform orthography, in which the letter ß was used after long vowels or diphthongs. After the 1996 German orthography reform, the standard spelling for the present tense is muss, written with ss after a short vowel; the second-person singular is du musst, the third-person singular er muss, the first-person plural wir müssen, and so on. The variant with ß is now largely confined to older references and to typographic choices in historic editions.

Historically, Muß occurs in 18th- to early 20th-century texts and is frequently found in Fraktur print. It is encountered in dictionaries, style guides of that era, and literature that aims to reproduce period language. In modern typography and education, this spelling is typically deprecated.

Etymology and cognates: The verb muss comes from a Proto-Germanic root related to English must and Dutch moeten, with cognates in other West Germanic languages such as Swedish måste and Danish måtte. The sense across these languages centers on obligation or necessity.

Usage notes: In contemporary German, the standard form is muss rather than Muß. Muß remains of interest mainly to linguists, philologists, and readers studying historical texts. It reflects orthographic conventions of its time rather than a separate meaning or usage.

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