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The letter thorn (þ), when hand-written, looks a lot like the letter Y [1]. So it remains, somewhat, in stuff like "Ye Olde Shoppe." Wikipedia claims that eth a
by Tangurena 17y ago
The letter thorn (þ), when hand-written, looks a lot like the letter Y [1]. So it remains, somewhat, in stuff like "Ye Olde Shoppe." Wikipedia claims that eth and thorn died out in common use (in English, anyway) between 1300 and 1500.
Notes:
1 - It gets drawn in one motion, down to the center from the upper left, then looping up to the upper right, back down to the center and down from there. So it looks like a sloppy Y.
- gb 17y agoWow, that's really interesting, I never realised that's where "Ye" came from. I suppose a similar thing happened with yogh (ȝ) - instead of being replaced with something less ambiguous it became z in some cases, but is still pronounced the original way. I think it only survives in some Scottish names in that form though.