Middle English Dictionary Entry
y n.
Entry Info
| Forms | y n. |
| Etymology |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) The letter y of the alphabet, or its sound;
(b) a representation of the Greek letter upsilon;
(c) the letter y used for the letter þ.
Associated quotations
a
- (1388) Invent.Westm.in Archaeol.52268 : Unus paruus aureus cum binis literis y interfrectis.
- (a1398) Trev.Barth.(Add 27944:Seymour)47a/b : Som men…mowe not sowne alle lettres, but somtyme he souneþ ‘ly’ for ‘y’ oþir ‘c’ for ‘t’, as it fareþ in children þat spilliþ & schendeþ many lettres and mowe not haue soun.
- ?c1400 Sloane SSecr.(Sln 213)16/1 : Nowe…go we se þe Abece…wher-by…þise countes sale be caste: A: 3. B: 3…Y: 3. Z: 4.
- a1425 Tit.Alphabet in MP 87 (Tit D.18)267 : Alphabetum Anglicum…x, ix; y, wi; &, and.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)79 : Quere plura vocabula similem sonum istis habencia in S litera, ubi I vel Y sequitur hanc literam S immediate.
b
- (?a1439) Lydg.FP (Bod 263)2.2449 : Pidagorus, for prudent gouernaile, Fond first out Y, a figur to discerne The liff heer short and liff that is eterne.
c
- a1425 *Mandev.(1) (Ld 699)f.37a : We have in oure langage too lettres more þane þei have in here, þat is to sey, y & z, which is called thorn and zedde.