What is the correct pronunciation of the letter/ligature 'Æ'?

Answer 1

Both the ligatures æ and œ are pronounced the same way -ee. These days the ligatures are either written as two letters or reduced to one, thus:

Fœtus - foetus - fetus
Encyclopædia - encyclopaedia - encyclopedia
Mediæval - mediaeval - medieval

The USA tends to favour the last option while the English and most of the rest of the English speaking world favour the second.

Answer 2

In Old English, the ligature was used to denote a sound intermediate between those of a and e (IPA [æ]), very much like the short a of cat in many dialects of modern English

Æ is a grapheme formed from the letters a and e. Originally a ligature representing a Latin diphthong, it has been promoted to the full status of a letter in the alphabets of many languages. As a letter of the Old English alphabet it was called æsc ‘ash tree’ after the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc rune ᚫ which it transliterated; its traditional name in English is still ash (pronounced [æʃ]).

In English, usage of the ligature varies in different places. In modern typography, and where technological limitations prevent (such as in use of computers and typewriters), æ is often eschewed for the digraph ae. This is often considered incorrect, especially when rendering foreign words where æ is properly a letter (e.g. Æsir, Ærø) or brand names which make use of the ligature (e.g. Æon Flux, Encyclopædia Britannica). In the United States, the problem of the ligature is sidestepped in many cases by use of a simplified spelling with "e"; compare the common modern usage, medieval, with the traditional or obsolescent, mediæval. However, given the long history of such spellings, they are sometimes used to invoke archaism or in literal quotations of historic sources, for words such as encyclopædia or dæmon.

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Answer 3

Ae Ligature