Quote:
Originally Posted by Pervinca Took
I had forgotten the Ye Olde thing ... how did it happen, though? Neither letter really looks like a Y. Was it just because it was a single letter?
Nothing to do with the letter wynn, which looks like thorn without the top bit?
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In 17th century orthography (yes, it lasted that long!) thorn really did look rather like a Y; it basically lost its ascender and took over the shape of wynn, which had fallen out of use not long into the Middle English period:
Yogh in a much smaller way has created a similar issue: names like "Menzies," which is pronounced "Mingus" because that Z is actually a yogh.