The original ancestor of Y was the Semitic letter Waw, which was also the ultimate origin of the modern letters F, U, V, and W. See F for details.
The letter Y was used in Old English, as in Latin, to represent /y/; however, some claim that this use was an independent invention in England created by stacking a V and an I, unrelated to the Latin use of the letter. Regardless, it is fairly likely that the letter, although technically named Y Græca (IPA [u gre:ka]) meaning ‘Greek u’ in contradistinction from native Latin /u/, came to be analyzed as the letter V (called /uː/) atop the letter I (called /iː/). The letter was thus referred to as [uː iː], which after /uː/ became the glide /w/ and after English’s Great Vowel Shift naturally became /waɪ/.
By Middle English, /y/ had lost its roundedness and merged with /i/, and Y came to be used with the same values as I, /iː/ and /ɪ/ as well as /j/. Those dialects that retained /y/ spelled it with U, under French influence.
You people don’t know good erotica when you see it, obvs.
by greg—Feb 11, 04:17 PM
is that last word an anagram of boys?
by Balthasar Gracián—Feb 11, 06:35 PM
it would be if it had a y.
by greg—Feb 11, 07:09 PM
The original ancestor of Y was the Semitic letter Waw, which was also the ultimate origin of the modern letters F, U, V, and W. See F for details.
The letter Y was used in Old English, as in Latin, to represent /y/; however, some claim that this use was an independent invention in England created by stacking a V and an I, unrelated to the Latin use of the letter. Regardless, it is fairly likely that the letter, although technically named Y Græca (IPA [u gre:ka]) meaning ‘Greek u’ in contradistinction from native Latin /u/, came to be analyzed as the letter V (called /uː/) atop the letter I (called /iː/). The letter was thus referred to as [uː iː], which after /uː/ became the glide /w/ and after English’s Great Vowel Shift naturally became /waɪ/.
By Middle English, /y/ had lost its roundedness and merged with /i/, and Y came to be used with the same values as I, /iː/ and /ɪ/ as well as /j/. Those dialects that retained /y/ spelled it with U, under French influence.
by Balthasar Gracián—Feb 11, 07:22 PM
Mind your dipthongs!
Boy is spelled with Y regardless of the language you use.
by greg—Feb 11, 07:37 PM
Speaking of testicles…
by greg—Feb 11, 10:48 PM