4 ms·

To me it sounds a lot like the German "ä", which can also be written as "ae". I wonder if this is somehow related.

• CRConrad 5y ago
  Do you really need to wonder?
• Tagbert 5y ago
  The umlaut (dots) represent a vestigial “e”. In pronunciation, it shifts the A phoneme forward in the mouth closer to E. The same thing happens with “ö”.