Why does the hiragana "so" have two spellings?

[chldudghks0517]

This is a silly question to ask but really, why does "so" have two spellings

and

?

Is there a historical background to this?

And, which is more commonly used?


(Image credits: Wikipedia)

 

[Mike Cash]

Same thing, different fonts. Notice the little "flip" at the bottom of the small stroke? Now imagine that the writer hadn't completely lifted the brush from the page. You'd have the version in the second image.

 

[chldudghks0517]

Same thing, different fonts. Notice the little "flip" at the bottom of the small stroke? Now imagine that the writer hadn't completely lifted the brush from the page. You'd have the version in the second image.

Ah, that explains it.

I was just wondering if one of them was used in the old times (traditional) and the other being used in the modern times (present).

Thank you.

 

[Mike Cash]

You will encounter a lot of variety, especially when you start looking at handwriting.

 

[LloydVincent]

When そ is handwritten like the left-side image you posted, it usually comes out looking like the B style in this image: http://p.twpl.jp/show/large/P4hwj Basically, a diagonal bar that connects to the rest of the character

I hand-write it that way too (it's just easier for me, somehow), but have been told it seems a little old-fashioned.

 

[nnnaaa]

The original Chinese character that 「そ」 came from is 曽, and you can see how it has changed at the following site.
窶堙絶?堙ｧ窶堋ｪ窶堙按「窶堋ｻﾂ」窶堙固ｽﾅ｡ﾅ蛋窶堙??冦窶堙≫?堙??堋ｨ窶堋ｭ窶堋ｱ窶堙??堙戸?凪?督｡