Likely an alteration ofzed (which see for more), by analogy with other letters such asbee,dee,tee andvee.[1] Fell out of usage in England by the 17th century,[1] and made standard in the U.S. inAmerican Dictionary of English Language byNoah Webster in 1828, though usage varied for decades afterwards.[2]
^Henry Phillips, Jr. quoting E. A. Freeman (March 1883), “A Note Respecting the Correct Name of the Last Letter of the English Alphabet”, inProceedings of the American Philosophical Society[1], volume21, number114, University of Pennsylvania Press, pages330-333: “This in New England is alwayszee ; in the South, it iszed, while Pennsylvania seems to halt between the two opinions.”
López Antonio, Joaquín; Jones, Ted; Jones, Kris (2012),Vocabulario breve del Zapoteco de San Juan Guelavía[3] (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Tlalpan, D.F.:Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page20
^Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page81
^Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page94
^Kathleen A. Browne (1927), “THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD.”, inJournal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of lreland (Sixth Series)[2], volume17, number 2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
^Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828), William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page80
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,July 2023.