Spanish “y” (orthography)

[elroy]

Why is the Spanish word “y” (“and”) spelled that way and not “i”? I just realized that — unless I’m missing any — no other Spanish words use <y> for /i/.

 

[Circunflejo]

I just realized that — unless I’m missing any — no other Spanish words use <y> for /i/.

Dejando a un lado palabras como hoy, rey, ley... en las que se puede considerar semivocálica, el único ejemplo que me viene a la cabeza es pyme.

Why is the Spanish word “y” (“and”) spelled that way and not “i”?

I guess that because back in 1726 the RAE decided to keep y being y when it regulated the use of y and i. Formerly, you could find yglesia and some other spellings no longer used.

 

[Dymn]

My thinking has always been it's semivocalic or semiconsonantic in so many contexts (either when the last word ends with a vowel or the next one begins with a vowel), that y seems fair enough. Also I find it more aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Penyafort]

It probably has to do with a certain frequency of y being used initially before consonants from the moment it began to replace the & sign by the ending of the 16th century. It can still be seen in surnames (Yglesias, Ybarra) in old spellings of Ysabel, etc.

It's funny though how it's /i/ in the three main Romance languages of the Peninsula, but with a different spelling in each of them.

 

[S.V.]

The y in hay used to add 'location', as in il y a (15.6d). As you lose that ẏ in Mio Cid (hover & click should work?)



& our 'and' becomes /i/, it's a matter of a different stroke.



(img link > ctrl + F, de claro yngenio)

Throughout that .pdf, you'd notice the vertical strokes in i, u, m, etc. are a bit straining. So you get centuries of i ~ j ~ y.

(e seis anillos, fraile, la mi vieja sabida; .pdf page in name)

 

[Terio]

Y is also used to represent [i] in muy. (Though two prononciations co-exist : [mwi] / [muj].)

 

[Penyafort]

Y is also used to represent [i] in muy. (Though two prononciations co-exist : [mwi] / [muj].)

It just represents [j] there, as in uy, rey, doy, guay, etc. (Exceptions to this are usually placenames Hawái, Hanói... or some foreign words such as bonsái. Some admit both, like samurái/samuray, paipái/paipay, tipói/tipoy, etc.)

 

[S.V.]

Ah, Terio might be talking about that thread.

(C)

 

[Tizona]

Dejando a un lado palabras como hoy, rey, ley... en las que se puede considerar semivocálica, el único ejemplo que me viene a la cabeza es pyme.

Y este caso viene de "Pequeña Y Mediana Empresa".