Y, ory, is the twenty-fifth and penultimateletter of theLatin alphabet, used in themodern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh if includingW)vowel letter of the English alphabet.[1] Its name in English iswye[2] (pronounced/ˈwaɪ/ⓘ), pluralwyes.[3]
In Latin, Y was namedI graeca ("Greek I"), since the classical Greek sound/y/, similar to modern Germanü or Frenchu, was not a native sound for Latin speakers, and the letter was initially only used to spell foreign words. This history has led to the standard modern names of the letter in Romance languages –i grego in Galician,i grega in Catalan,i grec in French and Romanian, andi greca in Italian – all meaning "Greek I". The namesigrek in Polish andi gờ-rét in Vietnamese are both phonetic borrowings of the French name. In Dutch, the letter is either only found in loanwords, or is practically equivalent to the digraphIJ. Hence, bothGriekse ij andi-grec are used, as well asypsilon. In Spanish, Y is also calledi griega; however, in the twentieth century, the shorter nameye was proposed and was officially recognized as its name in 2010 by theReal Academia Española, although its original name is still accepted.[4]
The original Greek name, υ ψιλόν (upsilon), has also been adapted into several modern languages. For example, it is calledYpsilon in German,ypsilon in Dutch, andufsilon i in Icelandic. Both names are used in Italian,ipsilon ori greca; likewise in Portuguese,ípsilon ori grego.[5] In Faroese, the letter is simply calledseinna i ("later i") because of its later place in the alphabet. France has a commune calledY, pronounced/i/ⓘ, whose inhabitants go by the demonymupsilonienne/upsilonien in feminine and masculine form respectively.[6]
The oldest direct ancestor of the letter Y was theSemitic letterwaw (pronounced as[w]), from which also comeF,U,V, andW. SeeF for details. The Greek and Latin alphabets developed from thePhoenician form of this early alphabet.
The form of the modern letter Y is derived from the Greek letterupsilon. It dates back to the Latin of the first century BC, when upsilon was introduced a second time, this time with its "foot" to distinguish it. It was used to transcribe loanwords from theAttic dialect of Greek, which had the non-Latin vowel sound/y/ (as found in modern Frenchcru (raw) or Germangrün (green)) in words that had been pronounced with/u/ in earlier Greek.
Because[y] was not a native sound of Latin, Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing it, and it was usually pronounced/i/.[citation needed] Some Latin words ofItalic origin also came to be spelled with 'y': Latinsilva ('forest') was commonly spelledsylva, in analogy with the Greek cognate and synonymὕλη.[7]
The letter Y was used to represent the sound/y/ inOld English, so Latin⟨u⟩,⟨y⟩ and⟨i⟩ were all used to represent distinct vowel sounds. But, by the time ofMiddle English,/y/ had lost itsroundedness and became identical to⟨i⟩ (/iː/ and/ɪ/). Therefore, many words that originally had⟨i⟩ were spelled with⟨y⟩, and vice versa.
In Modern English,⟨y⟩ can represent the same vowel sounds as the letter⟨i⟩. The use of⟨y⟩ to represent a vowel is more restricted in Modern English than it was in Middle and early Modern English. It occurs mainly in the following three environments:for upsilon in Greek loan-words (system: Greek σύστημα), at the end of a word (rye, city; comparecities, where S is final), and in place of I before the ending-ing (dy-ing,ty-ing).
Consonant
As a consonant in English,⟨y⟩ normally represents apalatal approximant,/j/ (year,yore). In this usage, the letter Y has replaced theMiddle English letteryogh (Ȝȝ), which developed from the letterG, ultimately from Semiticgimel. Yogh could also represent other sounds, such as/ɣ/, which came to be writtengh in Middle English.
Confusion in writing with the letterthorn
When printing was introduced to Great Britain,Caxton and other English printers used Y in place of Þ (thorn: Modern Englishth), which did not exist in continentaltypefaces. From this convention comes the spelling ofthe asye in the mock archaismYe Olde Shoppe. But, in spite of the spelling, pronunciation was the same as for modernthe (stressed/ðiː/, unstressed/ðə/). Pronouncing the articleye asyee (/jiː/) is purely a modernspelling pronunciation.[8]
Other languages
In some of theNordic languages,⟨y⟩ is used to represent the sound/y/. The distinction between/y/ and/i/ has been lost inIcelandic andFaroese, making the distinction purely orthographic and historical. A similar merger of/y/ into/i/ happened in Greek around the beginning of the 2nd millennium, making the distinction between iota (Ι, ι) and upsilon (Υ, υ) purely a matter of historical spelling there as well. The distinction is retained inDanish,Norwegian, andSwedish.
In theWest Slavic languages,⟨y⟩ was adopted as a sign for the close central unrounded vowel/ɨ/; later,/ɨ/ merged with/i/ in Czech and Slovak, whereas Polish retains it with the pronunciation[ɘ]. Similarly, inMiddle Welsh,⟨y⟩ came to be used to designate the vowels/ɨ/ and/ɘ/ in a way predictable from the position of the vowel in the word. Since then,/ɨ/ has merged with/i/ in Southern Welsh dialects, but/ɘ/ is retained.
Pronunciation of written⟨y⟩ in European languages (Actual pronunciation may vary)
⟨y⟩ represents the sounds/y/ or/ʏ/ (sometimes long) in theScandinavian languages. InDanish andSwedish, its use as a semivowel is limited toloanwords, whereas inNorwegian, it appears as a semivowel in native words such ashøyre/²hœʏ̯.rə/.
Dutch sign written withUITRIT VRIJLATEN, "keep exit clear". Y is traditionally used for IJ because it looks similar incursive writing.
In Dutch, it usually represents/i/. It may sometimes be left out of theDutch alphabet and replaced with the⟨ij⟩ digraph, representing the diphthong[ɛi]. In addition,⟨y⟩ and⟨ÿ⟩ are occasionally used instead of Dutch⟨IJ⟩ and⟨ij⟩, although this spelling is archaic.
InGerman orthography, the pronunciation/yː/ has taken hold since the 19th century in classical loanwords – for instance in words liketypisch/ˈtyːpɪʃ/ 'typical',Hyäne,Hysterie,mysteriös,Syndrom,System, andTyp. It is also used for the sound/j/ in loanwords, such asYacht (variation spelling:Jacht),Yak, andYeti. However,yo-yo is spelled "Jo-Jo" in German, andyoghurt/yogurt/yoghourt is "Joghurt". The letter⟨y⟩ is also used in many geographical names, e.g.Bayern Bavaria,Ägypten Egypt,Libyen Libya,Paraguay,Syrien Syria,Uruguay, andZypern Cyprus (butJemen forYemen andJugoslawien forYugoslavia). Especially in German names, the pronunciations/iː/ or/ɪ/ occur as well; for instance, in the nameMeyer, where it serves as a variant of⟨i⟩,cf.Meier, another common spelling of the name. In German, the y is preserved in the plural form of some loanwords such asBabys, 'babies' andPartys, 'parties'.
InHungarian orthography, y is only used in the digraphs "gy", "ly", "ny", "ty", in some surnames (e.g.Bátory), and in foreign words.
InIcelandic writing system, due to the loss of the Old Norse rounding of the vowel/y/, the letters⟨y⟩ and⟨ý⟩ are now pronounced identically to the letters⟨i⟩ and⟨í⟩, namely as/ɪ/ and/i/ respectively. The difference in spelling is thus purely etymological. InFaroese, too, the contrast has been lost, and⟨y⟩ is always pronounced/i/, whereas the accented versions⟨ý⟩ and⟨í⟩ designate the same diphthong/ʊi/ (shortened to/u/ in some environments). In both languages, it can also form part of diphthongs such as⟨ey⟩ (in both languages), pronounced/ei/, and⟨oy⟩, pronounced/ɔi/ (Faroese only).
InFrench orthography,⟨y⟩ is pronounced as[i] when a vowel (as in the wordscycle,y) and as[j] as a consonant (as inyeux,voyez). It alternates orthographically with⟨i⟩ in the conjugations of some verbs, indicating a[j] sound. In most cases when⟨y⟩ follows a vowel, it modifies the pronunciation of the vowel:⟨ay⟩[ɛ],⟨oy⟩[wa],⟨uy⟩[ɥi]. The letter⟨y⟩ has double function (modifying the vowel as well as being pronounced as[j] or[i]) in the wordspayer,balayer,moyen,essuyer,pays, etc., but in some words it has only a single function:[j] inbayer,mayonnaise,coyote; modifying the vowel at the end of proper names likeChardonnay andFourcroy. In French,⟨y⟩ can have adiaeresis (tréma) as inMoÿ-de-l'Aisne.
This church atNigrán, Spain, is labeled asYGLESIA DE REFVGIO. It would beiglesia de refugio ("sanctuary church") in modern orthography.
InSpanish,⟨y⟩ was used as a word-initial form of⟨i⟩ that was more visible. (German has used⟨j⟩ in a similar way.) Hence,el yugo y las flechas was a symbol sharing the initials ofIsabella I of Castille (Ysabel) andFerdinand II of Aragon. This spelling was reformed by theRoyal Spanish Academy and currently is only found in proper names spelled archaically, such asYbarra orCYII, the symbol of theCanal de Isabel II. Appearing alone as a word, the letter⟨y⟩ is agrammatical conjunction with the meaning "and" inSpanish and is pronounced/i/. As a consonant,⟨y⟩ represents[ʝ] in Spanish. The letter is calledi/y griega, literally meaning "Greek I", after the Greek letterypsilon, orye.
InPortuguese,⟨y⟩ (calledípsilon inBrazil, and eitherípsilon ori grego inPortugal) was, together with⟨k⟩ and⟨w⟩, recently reintroduced as the 25th letter, and 19th consonant, of thePortuguese alphabet, in consequence of thePortuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990. It is mostly used in loanwords from English,Japanese and Spanish. Loanwords in general, primarilygallicisms in both varieties, are more common inBrazilian Portuguese than inEuropean Portuguese. It was always common for Brazilians to stylizeTupi-influenced names of their children with the letter (which is present in most Romanizations ofOld Tupi) e.g. Guaracy, Jandyra, Mayara – though placenames and loanwords derived from indigenous origins had the letter substituted for⟨i⟩ over time e.g.Nictheroy becameNiterói. Usual pronunciations are/i/,[j],[ɪ] and/ɨ/ (the two latter ones are inexistent in European and Brazilian Portuguese varieties respectively, being both substituted by/i/ in other dialects). The letters⟨i⟩ and⟨y⟩ are regarded as phonemically not dissimilar, though the first corresponds to a vowel and the latter to a consonant, and both can correspond to asemivowel depending on its place in a word.
Italian, too, has⟨y⟩ (ipsilon) in a small number of loanwords. The letter is also common in some surnames native to the German-speaking province of Bolzano, such as Mayer or Mayr.
InPolish, it represents the vowel[ɘ] (or, according to some descriptions,[ɨ̞]), which is clearly different from[i], e.g.my (we) andmi (me). No native Polish word begins with⟨y⟩; very few foreign words keep⟨y⟩ at the beginning, e.g.yeti (pronounced[ˈjɛtʲi]).
InCzech andSlovak, the distinction between the vowels expressed by⟨y⟩ and⟨i⟩, as well as by⟨ý⟩ and⟨í⟩ has been lost (similarly to Icelandic and Faroese), but the consonantsd, t, n (alsol in Slovak) before orthographic (and historical)⟨y⟩ are not palatalized, whereas they are before⟨i⟩. Therefore,⟨y⟩ is calledtvrdé y (hard y), while⟨i⟩ isměkké i (soft i).⟨ý⟩ can never begin any word, while⟨y⟩ can never begin a native word.
InWelsh, it is usually pronounced[ə] in non-final syllables and[ɨ] or[i] (depending on the accent) in final syllables.
InEstonian,⟨y⟩ is used in foreign proper names and is pronounced as in the source language. It is also unofficially used as a substitute for⟨ü⟩ and is pronounced the same as inFinnish.
InLithuanian,⟨y⟩ is the 15th letter (following⟨į⟩ and preceding⟨j⟩ in the alphabet) and is a vowel. It is calledthe long i and is pronounced/iː/, like in Englishsee.
When used as a vowel inVietnamese, the letter⟨y⟩ represents the sound/i/; when it is a monophthong, it is functionally equivalent to the Vietnamese letter⟨i⟩. There have been efforts to replace all such uses with⟨y⟩ altogether, but they have been largely unsuccessful. As a consonant, it represents thepalatal approximant. The capital letter⟨Y⟩ is also used in Vietnamese as agiven name.
Ⲩ ⲩ :Coptic letter epsilon/he (not to be confused with the unrelated Greek letter Ε ε calledepsilon)
𐌖 :Old Italic U/V, which is the ancestor of modern Latin V and U
𐍅 :Gothic letteruuinne/vinja, which is transliterated as w
У у :Cyrillic letterU, which derives from Greek upsilon via the digraph omicron-upsilon used to represent the sound /u/
Ѵ ѵ :Cyrillic letterizhitsa, which derives from Greek upsilon and represents the sounds /i/ or /v/. This letter is archaic in the modern writing systems of the livingSlavic languages, but it is still used in the writing system of the Slavicliturgical languageChurch Slavonic.
^"Y",Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989);Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "wy",op. cit.
^Everson, Michael; Baker, Peter; Emiliano, António; Grammel, Florian; Haugen, Odd Einar; Luft, Diana; Pedro, Susana; Schumacher, Gerd; Stötzner, Andreas (2006-01-30)."L2/06-027: Proposal to add Medievalist characters to the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF) from the original on 2018-09-19. Retrieved2018-03-24.
