Y. World English Historical Dictionary

Y. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1928, rev. 2024. Y [pl. Y’s, Ys] The twenty-fifth letter of the modern and twenty-third of the ancient Roman alphabet, representing ultimately Y, Υ (u psilon) of the Greek alphabet, a differentiated form of the primitive V which has given also U and V. It was adopted first in the Latin alphabet in the form V to express (u) and (w), and was later (after B.C. 100) readopted in the form Y to represent the Υ of borrowed Greek words.

1   The name of the letter in the Romanic languages, ‘Greek i’ (e.g., F. i grec, Sp. i griega), and the Ger. name ipsilon, It. ipsilon, -onne († yssilonne), and Pg. ypsilon, preserve the fact of its Greek origin. The English name wy is of obscure origin.

2   The earliest available English evidence is in the MS. of the Ormulum, col. 109 (l. 4320), where ρI is written, app. in the first hand (c. 1200), over ẏ, the fifth letter of the name IESOẎS. Nothing certain is known about the historical relationship of the English name to the name vI or uI attributed to ‘the Greek y’ in the grammatical treatise (a. 1150) contained in the Edda, or to the ui or gui of some OF. systems. Gawin Douglas rhymes Y with sky (see quot. 1513 in sense 2 below); other early references to the name are:—

3 1573.  Baret, Alv., Y hath bene taken for a greeke vowel among our latin Grammarians a great while, which me thinke if we marke well we shall finde to be rather a diphthong: for it appeareth to be compounded of u and i, which both spelled togither soundeth as we write Wy.

4 1580.  Bullokar, Amendm. Orthogr., 8. The olde name of :y: (which is wy).

5   (1)  The letter of which our y is the direct representative occurs from the earliest times in OE. script to express the i-mutation of u. It had various forms ranging from those resembling the Greek u psilon, in which the tops of the limbs turn outwards in opposite directions, to those in which both limbs turn in the same direction, whether to the right (forming an F-like character) or to the left. This last type with the right shank continued leftwards below the line was the form that prevailed in ME. script, and which, with the top closed (Y), became identical with the debased forms of þ: see (3) below. Most forms of the OE. y in the earliest manuscripts are written with a superposed dot, which is also a feature of the y in contemporary manuscripts of Latin texts. The dot fell out of use towards the end of the eighth century, but was revived towards the end of the tenth. The dotted y continued throughout the ME. period, and was carried into some of the early founts of type (e.g., in The Book of St. Albans of 1486 the dotted y is employed in the larger, but not in the smaller type).

6   In later (West-Saxon) OE., y was written alternatively for i, e.g., as representing older ie, as in cyle, onȝylan, yld, for ciele, onȝietan, ield; and, as its function of expressing rounded i (ü, ü) was usurped by u in imitation of French usage, it became ultimately a possible substitute for vocalic i in any position. This use had become established by the middle of the 13th century, and, thenceforward, with the deterioration of script, y came to serve as a convenient means of breaking up an ambiguous series of minims produced by a succession of i, u, n, m, as nym, myn, ynumen, unymete, for nim, min, inumen, unimete. This free use of y was continued through the ME. period, and the tradition lasted for a long period after the introduction of printing; but i was gradually restored to its place, the resulting orthographic convention being that y is retained: (i) for final i-sounds, as in fly, family, daily, destroy (formerly spelt also flie and flye, familie and familye, etc.), only alien words being spelt with final i; (ii) in Greek words, representing v, as in hymn; (iii) before i, in inflexional forms of verbs ending in y or ie, as flying, lying, tying, not fliing, etc.; (iv) in the plural of nouns ending in y preceded by another written vowel, as boy boys, ray rays, alley alleys, money moneys (but monies is still common, and vallies, monkies, etc., were equally so until recently). Particular usages, not falling under these categories, are the use of y to distinguish dye from die, and the fluctuation between flyer and flier, tyre and tire, gipsy and gypsy, tiro and tyro, siphon and syphon, cipher and cypher, silva and sylva (see each word for the special circumstances).

7   In some texts y is found substituted for i = French j; e.g., in Shoreham’s Poems manyour is written for maniour = manger, in Ayenbite yyoynned for yioyned joined, in the Camb. MS. of the 15th century version of Guy of Warwick occur yoye, yolye, yelowse, harbenyoure, soyourned = joy, jolly, jealous, harbinger, sojourned.

8   (2)  About the middle of the 13th century y began to be used to represent the voiced palatal spirant (y), taking the place of the character ȝ (called YOGH, q.v.) in one of its values. ȝ is a loosely written form of OE. ʓ, which had become appropriated in early ME. script to the guttural and palatal spirants, while the continental g was appropriated to the voiced guttural and palatal stops (though in some MSS. g stands for all these sounds: cf. G). The practice of contemporary scribes varied considerably, some restricting y to its vocalic use, others using it freely for both consonant and vowel. Northern scribes of the 14th and 15th centuries often write yh for y initially, as yhit, yheyt yet, yher year, yhoung young.

9   In many late ME. scripts ȝ became identical in form with z, and it was retained by Scottish printers in this form; e.g., printed zer, fenzeit, Dalziel, represent yer year, fenyeit feigned, Dalyiel: see further s.v. Z.

10   (3)  Another value of y arises from the assimilation of y and þ, the runic thorn (see TH), which had become indistinguishable from each other in some MSS. of the early 14th century (e.g., the Cotton MS. of Cursor Mundi). After 1400 þ fell more and more out of use, and in some scripts was represented only by the y-form in the compendia ye, yt or yat, yei, ym, yn = the, that, they, them, thou, and the like, many of which continued to be extensively employed in manuscript in the 17th and 18th centuries. Two of these, ye or ye, yt or yt, were retained in printers’ types during the 15th and 16th centuries, but often with a form of somewhat different from that used in other positions. (In Sir John Cheke’s translation of the New Testament, a dotted y stands for th.) In manuscript (e.g., in letter-writing) ye lasted well into the 19th century. It is still often used pseudo-archaically, jocularly, or vulgarly (pronounced as ye), e.g., in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Ye Carpette Knyghte,’ and in shop-signs like ‘Ye Olde Booke Shoppe.’

11 c. 1340.  Cursor M., 17033–4 (MS. Cott. Vesp. A III, lf. 94 b). And es naman yt es in skil yat agh sai her again.

12 14[?].  Agincourt Song (Pepys MS.). Þat tounn he wan and mad a fray Yat fraunce xal rewe tyl domysday.

13 c. 1500.  Promp. Parv. (Middle Hill MS.), 535, note1. Yanne or thann,… Yowtyng or thowtyng. Ibid. (MS. note in Brit. Mus. Copy of Pynson’s ed.). All these Y. stande for Th. acordinge as the Saxon caracte was in this sorte þ.

14 1508.  Chapman & Myllar Prints (S. T. S., 1918), 171. Thou ryall king all yis suld reull yi realme.

15 1551.  Sir W. Pickering, Lett. to Sir W. Cecil, in Nat. MSS. II. 1. At pares ye 27 of octobre.

16 1665.  Caldwell Papers (Maitland Club), I. 62. Without any interuption yrupon. Ibid., 63. It may be clearlie answered yrto.

17 1680.  P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 292. Bo[reatton] where ld Paget yen was.

18 1705.  J. Rogers, in Mrs. E. Montagu’s Corr. (1906), I. 145. I had notice by my Mother yt you had ordered me £40.

19 1741.  Dk. Portland, ibid., 76. j am to inform you yt ye Duchess continues as well as can be, and ye Babe too.

20 1745.  Mrs. Robinson, ibid., 225. [He] told ym yt ye French was landing in the Marsh.

21   1.  The letter or its sound.

22 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gram., ii. (Z.), 5. To ðisum [a, e, i, o, u] is ʓenumen se grecisca y for intingan greciscra namena, and se ylca y is on engliscum ʓewritum swiðe ʓewunelic.

23 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 79/1. Quere plura vocabula similem sonum istis habencia in S literâ, ubi I vel Y sequitur hanc literam S immediate.

24 [c. 1465.  Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 2 A. .ȝ. for yorke.]

25 1521.  Barclay, Introd. Fr., B ij b. But specyally y: muste be wryten for I, in ye ende of englysshe wordes, and whan n: m, or u, is wryten before, or behynde it.

26 1530.  Palsgr., 16. The writtynge of i and y in any frenche worde, eyther alone or as part of a diphthong, causeth no difference in sounde.

27 1599.  in Promp. Parv. (Camden), 536, note. All these wordes of ȝ we pronounce with Y at this daye, and some of these ȝ here vsed haue that place of G in oure spekinge and writinge at this daye.

28 1636.  B. Jonson, Eng. Gram., I. iii. Y is also mere vowelish in our tongue, and hath only the power of an i, even where it obtains the seat of a consonant.

29 1693.  Dryden, Disc. Satire, Ess. (1900), II. 67. [Satire] ought to be with i, and not with y, to distinguish its true derivation from satura, not from satyrus.

30 1755.  Johnson, Dict., Gram., a 2 b. It may be observed of y as of w, that it follows a vowel without any hiatus, as rosy youth.

31 1785.  Pinkerton, Lett. Lit., xxxiv. 243. [Ending] in y we have no less than 4900 words, about an eighth of our language; our words amounting to about 35,000.

32 1848.  Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, xxii. Tails of ys and gs.

33 1874.  ‘Max Adeler,’ Out of Hurly-Burly, ix. 149.        She said, ‘That Johnson has an h! that Thompson has a p! The Smith that spells without a y is not the Smith for me!’

34   b.  Used for the Greek letter Υ (u psilon), esp. as a Pythagorean symbol: see quots.

35 1430–40.  Lydg., Bochas, II. xv. (MS. Bodl. 263) lf. 117/2. Pithagorus … Fond first out y a figur to discerne The liff heer short and liff that is eterne.

36 1587.  Greene, Tritam. Love, Wks. (Grosart), III. 96. Did not Pythagoras compare vertue to the letter Y, which is small at the foot but broad at the top: meaning that to obtaine vertue is verie painefull, but the possession thereof passing pleasant?

37 1616.  Holyday, Persius, III. 119. The Samian letter Y Whose spreading branches teach Philosophie, Hath marked out … The high-rear’d right-hand path, wherein to walke.

38 1693.  Dryden, Persius, iii. (1697), 443. Where the Samian Y directs thy Steps to run, To Virtue’s narrow Steep, and Broad-way Vice to shun.

39 1771.  Encycl. Brit., I. 272/1. The other two divaricate, like the branches of the greek Y.

40   2.  The letter considered with regard to its shape; a figure or marking of this shape. Also Comb. Y-shaped adj.

41 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 120. Palamedes byrdis crouping in the sky, Fleand on randoune schapin lik ane Y.

42 1591.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 871. I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry: Who in the Clouds forming the forkéd Y,… Instructeth Souldiers in the Art of War.

43 a. 1817.  T. Dwight, Trav. New Eng., etc. (1821), II. 265. The centre of the town is a pretty expansion, in the form of the Roman Y.

44 1849.  Rock, Ch. Fathers, I. v. 324, note. A rich orphrey … dividing itself a little way below the neck, takes the shape of the letter Y, and passes, in that form, over the shoulders.

45 1861.  Hagen, Synopsis Neuroptera N. Amer., 214. Between the antennæ is a black Y.

46 1874.  Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 511. The bucket is then lowered into the Y-shaped rests.

47 1907.  C. C. Brown, China, xvi. 233. A Y-shaped divining rod.

48   3.  A contrivance or piece of apparatus in the form of the letter Y; esp. a forked support for a telescope, theodolite, or piece of mechanism. Also attrib., as Y axis, bearing, piece; Y branch, a piece of piping with a branch at an acute angle to the main (cf. T branch, T 3 b); Y cross, (a) a cross in the form of the letter Y, often used as an ornamental device on ecclesiastical vestments; (b) a piece of piping consisting of three branches diverging at acute angles; Y level, the common spirit-level, used with a telescope or theodolite resting on Y’s (also written wye-level, q.v.); Y track, a short track on a railway at right angles to the main track and connected with it by two switches in opposite directions, used for reversing an engine or car. Also in names of natural structures, as Y cartilage, ligament: see quot. 1890.

49 1793.  Wollaston, in Phil. Trans., LXXXIII. 137. The four pillars … carry the Ys for the pivots of the transit.

50 1803.  Mudge, ibid., XCIII. 407. The telescope was then quickly taken out of the Ys.

51 1838.  P. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), XXV. 304. There are two constructions [of levels] that are commonly adopted, viz. the Y level and Troughton’s level.

52 1842.  Francis, Dict. Arts, s.v. Beighton’s Hand Gear, The Y piece, as it is called, G, bearing the moveable weight F.

53 1864.  Webster, Y,… 2. (Railways.) A portion of track consisting of two converging tracks connected by a cross-track.

54 1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Journal,… the bearing part of a shaft, upon which it rests on its Y’s or bearings.

55 1875.  Encycl. Brit., III. 266/1. A wire, the axis of which coincides with the Y-axis.

56 1878.  Lockyer, Stargazing, 314. The Y bearings of a theodolite.

57 1884.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., Y Branch, a branch with a divergent stem. Y Cross, a pipe with two divergent stems.

58 1886.  Cumming, Electricity (1887), 40. A mounted telescope … swinging on two Y pieces.

59 1890.  Billings, Nat. Med. Dict., Y cartilage, the triradiate piece of true cartilage which, before puberty, unites the three portions of the hip-bone at the bottom of the acetabulum. Y ligament, ilio-femoral ligament.

60   b.  Collectors’ name for various moths of the genus Plusia, having markings more or less resembling the letter Y.

61 1775.  M. Harris, Engl. Lepid., 59. Y moth … Brown, having a mark in the middle of the wing like the letter Y.

62 1832.  J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 93. The Golden Y (P. Iota) … frequents woody places. Ibid., The Yorkshire Y (P. interrogationis). Ibid., 94. The Essex Y (P. circumflexa).

63 1844.  H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 778. The Gamma or Y-moth, Plusia gamma.

64 1845.  Jas. Hamilton, in W. Arnot, Life, vi. (1870), 289. The first capture was her favourite golden Y-moth.

65 1903.  E. Robinson, in Blackw. Mag., April, 490/1. Young missel-thrushes … searching for the larvæ of the silver Y.

66   4.  Math. Used to denote the second of a set of unknown or variable quantities (the first being denoted by x); spec. in Analytical Geometry, the symbol for an ordinate, or quantity measured in the direction of the second axis of coordinates (hence called the axis of y).

67 1728.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Conic Sections, If the Latus Rectum of any Diameter, as DK, be y; then, as the Diameter DK is to its conjugate βy, or its equal ων; so that Conjugate βy, or that Tangent ων is to y.

68 1903.  [see X 3].

69   5.  Used in abstract reasoning for the name of a person or thing (usually in connection with X). Also Y. Z., used as the initials of a person remaining anonymous.

70 1765.  Museum Rust., IV. 23. I am, Gentlemen, Yours, &c. Y. Z.

71 1867.  Sir S. Northcote, in A. Lang, Life, Lett., etc. (1890), I. ix. 293. The success of A. and B. will tempt Y. and Q. to enter upon the same field.

72 1873.  [see X 3 c].

73   6.  Used to denote position in a series, as of the batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery.

74   7.  Abbreviations. y. = year(s). Y = Yttrium (Chem.). Y. C. (see quot. 1883). Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A. = Young Men’s (Women’s) Christian Association.

75 1680.  P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 293. Hee is now 23. y. old.

76 1881.  Y.M.C.A. Monthly Notes, Sept., 138/1. Pasteur Cook (Paris) said the Y.M.C.As. were differently conducted in England to what they were in France.

77 1883.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Suppl., Y. C., an abbreviation for yellow candle tallow.

78 1887.  (title) Y.W.C.A. Monthly Journal.

79 1901.  Oxf. Times, 16 March, 12/1. A squad of eight Y.M.C.A. men … gave a gymnastic display.

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