ae in the word encyclopaedia

[666]

is there a name for the 'ae' used in some words such as encyclopaedia ?
Thanks

[THECORBYLOON]

Two letters joined together are called a ligature but � or �, is called "ASH" specifically.

[kempie]

Classical Latin used the diphthong 'ae' (pron. eye) which mutated into the ligature � in the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language and was called the "�sch" (pron: ash). 

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=%26aelig%3B

[rojash]

Perhaps I'll change my name to roj�

[IndieSinger]

Actually, I might have a b� at that myself. *Flutters eyel�es*. Anyway, must d�.

[rojash]

Just testing...

[kempie]

Stop acting fl�, you've flogged this joke to d�  ;-)

[kempie]

p.s. � = eth

[Bert]

A ligature is also the name for certain combinations of two (or even three) letters that are joined together to make printers' lives a little bit easier, I suppose. Examples are 'ff','fi' and 'ffi'.
Some of the sites I have looked at explain the reason for the 'ae' and'oe' to be joined together as being for the same purpose, but I do not think that this can be so, as there is no problem with parts of the two letters colliding, and if it were so, all the words with 'ae' and 'oe' in them would be printed that way, especially in old books. Does anybody have a better explanation?