Reminds me of "ye", pronounced and meaning "the", in English, because medieval printers imported from Germany didn't have that letter "Þ' and 'Y' was the closest substitute.
It's worth noting that "ye" also existed as the second person plural pronoun while "þe" simultaneously existed as a second person singular. These are now merged in most English dialects. Getting the unrelated definite article "þe" mixed up in this and substituting a "y" was more than just a matter of misguided font substitution because some forms of the handwritten thorn look very similar to a "y". Two words pronounced "the", one of which is easily conflated with another spelled and pronounced "ye" leads to the inevitable result.
kevin_thibedeau|2 years ago