 A transitional change of the Latin script in the Nordic countries was to spell the letter combination " ae " as æ – and sometimes as a ' – though it varied between persons and regions . The combination " ao " was similarly rendered ao , and " oe " became oe . These three were later to evolve into the separate letters ä , å and ö . The first time the new letters were used in print was in <unk> <unk> <unk> ( " By the Devil 's temptation " ) published by Johan Gerson in 1495 . 
