yogh

[yohkh]

noun

1. the letter used in the writing of Middle English to represent a palatal fricative, as in ung (Modern Englishyoung ) or a velar fricative, as in litliche (Modern Englishlightly ).

yogh

/ jɒɡ /

noun

1. a character (ȝ) used in Old and Middle English to represent a palatal fricative very close to the semivowel sound of Modern English y, as in Old English ȝeong (young)

2. this same character as used in Middle English for both the voiced and voiceless palatal fricatives; when final or in a closed syllable in medial position the sound approached that of German ch in ich, as in knyȝt (knight). After the 14th century this symbol became the modern consonantal (semivocalic) y when initial or commencing a syllable, and though no longer pronounced in medial position it is preserved in many words by a modern gh, as in thought

Word History and Origins

Origin of yogh¹

1250–1300; Middle English yogh, yok

Word History and Origins

Origin of yogh¹

C14: perhaps from yok _yoke , referring to the letter's shape

Example Sentences

In the chapter “D is for Disappeared Letters,” for example, he uses the opening lines of “Beowulf” to show how letters such as “yogh” and “wynn” have left us.

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Yogh ȝ is alphabetized as g, thorn þ as th.

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Refer to the image for the black letter poems as the yogh/ezh & thorn/h characters are difficult to distinguish.

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This e-text contains a number of unusual characters: œ oe ligature, ✠ maltese cross, ⁊ tironian ampersand, ō o-macron, c̃ c-tilde, ŷ y-circumflex, and ȝ yogh.

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Yogh is used in dictionary headwords; the others occur only in etymologies.

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