| Þ | |
|---|---|
| Þ þ | |
 | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Adapted fromFuthark andFuthorc intoLatin script |
| Type | Alphabetic andlogographic |
| Language of origin | Old English language Old Norse language |
| Sound values | [θ] [ð] [θ̠] [z] /θɔːrn/ |
| In Unicode | U+00DE, U+00FE |
| History | |
| Development | ᚦ
|
| Time period | ~800 to present |
| Descendants | ꝥ |
| Sisters | None |
| Transliterations | Θ, th |
| Other | |
| Associated graphs | th, dh |
| Writing direction | Left-to-right |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Thorn orþorn (Þ,þ) is a letter in theOld English,Old Norse,Old Swedish and modernIcelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of theGothic alphabet,Middle Scots, and some dialects ofMiddle English. It was also used inmedievalScandinavia but was later replaced with thedigraphth, except inIceland, where it survives. The letter originated from theruneᚦ (Thurisaz) in theElder Futhark and was calledthorn in the Anglo-Saxon andthorn orthurs in the Scandinavianrune poems. It is similar in appearance to the archaic Greek lettersho (ϸ), although the two are historically unrelated. The only language in which þ is currently in use isIcelandic.[1]
It represented avoiceless dental fricative[θ] or itsvoiced counterpart[ð]. However, in modern Icelandic it represents alaminalvoiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative[θ̠],[2][3] similar toth as in the English wordthick, or a (usuallyapical)voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative[ð̠],[2][3] similar toth as in the English wordthe. Modern Icelandic usage generally excludes the latter, which is instead represented with the lettereth⟨Ð, ð⟩; however,[ð̠] may occur as anallophone of/θ̠/, and written⟨þ⟩, when it appears in an unstressed pronoun or adverb after a voiced sound.[4]
Intypography, the lowercase thorncharacter is unusual for it has both anascender and adescender.[a]
The letter thorn was used inOld English very early on, as wasð, which was calledeth. Unlike eth, thorn remained in common use through most of theMiddle English period. Both letters were used for the phoneme/θ/, sometimes by the same scribe. This sound was regularly realised inOld English as the voiced fricative[ð] between voiced sounds, but either letter could be used to write it; the modern use of[ð] inphonetic alphabets is not the same as theOld English orthographic use. A thorn with theascender crossed (Ꝥ) was a popular abbreviation for the wordthat.
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The modern digraphth began to grow in popularity during the 14th century; at the same time, the shape of⟨Þ⟩ grew less distinctive, with the letter losing its ascender (becoming similar in appearance to the oldwynn (⟨Ƿ⟩,⟨ƿ⟩), which had fallen out of use by 1300, and to ancient through modern⟨P⟩,⟨p⟩). By this stage,th was predominant and the use of⟨Þ⟩ was largely restricted to certain common words and abbreviations. This was the longest-lived use, though with the arrival ofmovable type printing, the substitution of⟨y⟩ for⟨Þ⟩ became ubiquitous, leading to the common "ye", as in 'Ye Olde Curiositie Shoppe'. One major reason for this was that⟨Y⟩ existed in the printer'stypes that were imported from Belgium and the Netherlands, while⟨Þ⟩ did not.[5] The word was never pronounced as /j/, as in ⟨yes⟩, though, even when so written.[6] The first printing of theKing James Version of the Bible in 1611 usedye for "the" in places such as Job 1:9, John 15:1, and Romans 15:29.[7] It also usedyt as an abbreviation for "that", in places such as 2 Corinthians 13:7. All were replaced in later printings bythe orthat, respectively.
The following werescribal abbreviations during Middle and Early Modern English using the letter thorn:
ꝥ – Thethorn with stroke (or barred thorn) is the earliest abbreviation, it is used in manuscripts in theOld English language. It is the letter⟨þ⟩, with a bold horizontal stroke through the ascender, and it represents the wordþæt, meaning "the" or "that" (neuternom. /acc.)þͤ – a Middle English abbreviation for the wordthe
þͭ – a Middle English abbreviation for the wordthat
þͧ – a rare Middle English abbreviation for the wordthou (which was written early on asþu orþou)In later printed texts, given the lack of asort for the glyph,[5] printers substituted the (visually similar) lettery for the thorn:
yͤ – an Early Modern English abbreviation for the wordthe
yͭ – an Early Modern English abbreviation for the wordthatThorn in the form of a "Y" survives in pseudo-archaic uses, particularly thestock prefix "ye olde". Thedefinite article spelt with "Y" for thorn is often jocularly or mistakenly pronounced/jiː/ ("yee"), conflating it with the archaicnominative case of the second person plural pronoun, "ye", as in "hear ye!".
Icelandic is the only living language to keep the letter thorn. In Icelandic,þ is pronouncedþoddn,[θ̠ɔtn̥] orþorn[θ̠ɔrn̥]. The letter is the 30th in theIcelandic alphabet, modelled afterOld Norse alphabet in the 19th century; it istransliterated toth when it cannot be reproduced[8] and never appears at the end of a word. For example, the name ofHafþór Júlíus Björnsson isanglicised as Hafthor.
Its pronunciation has not varied much, but before the introduction of theeth character,þ was used to represent the sound[ð], as in the word "verþa", which is now speltverða (meaning "to become") in modern Icelandic or normalized orthography.[9] Þ was originally taken from therunic alphabet and is described in theFirst Grammatical Treatise from the 12th-century:
| Staf þann er flestir menn kallaþ, þann kalla ég af því heldurþe að þá er það atkvæði hans í hverju máli sem eftir lifir nafnsins er úr er tekinn raddarstafur úr nafni hans, sem alla hefi ég samhljóðendur samda í það mark nú sem ég reit snemma í þeirra umræðu. [...] Höfuðstaf þe-sins rita ég hvergi nema í vers upphafi því að hans atkvæði má eigi æxla þótt hann standi eftir raddarstaf í samstöfun.[10] – First Grammarian,First Grammatical Treatise | The letter which most men callthorn I shall callthe, so that its sound value in each context will be what is left of the name when the vowel is removed, since I have now arranged all the consonants in that manner, as I wrote earlier in this discussion. [...] The capital letter ofthe I do not write except at the beginning of a section, since its sound cannot be extended, even when it follows the vowel of the syllable.[11] – First Grammarian,First Grammatical Treatise, translation byEinar Haugen |
Uppercase and lowercase forms of thorn haveUnicode encodings:
These Unicodecodepoints were inherited fromISO/IEC 8859-1 ("ISO Latin-1") encoding.
Various forms of thorn were used for medievalscribal abbreviations:[12]
The types used by Caxton and his contemporaries originated in Holland and Belgium, and did not provide for the continuing use of elements of the Old English alphabet such as thorn <þ>, eth <ð>, and yogh <ʒ>. The substitution of visually similar typographic forms has led to some anomalies which persist to this day in the reprinting of archaic texts and the spelling of regional words. The widely misunderstood 'ye' occurs through a habit of printer's usage that originates in Caxton's time, when printers would substitute the <y> (often accompanied by a superscript <e>) in place of the thorn <þ> or the eth <ð>, both of which were used to denote both the voiced and non-voiced sounds, /ð/ and /θ/ (Anderson, D. (1969) The Art of Written Forms. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, p 169)
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