Have any of you learned that the Spanish name for y is i griega? (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

“I griega” has been the traditional name of the letter y in Spanish, though many now teach the name as being “ye”. The name literally translates as “Greek i”. This name comes from the fact that originally, the Latin letter y only existed to write Greek words (that was the purpose of the letters existence). This letter was called “I Graeca”. Although the letter Y got more uses in Latin eventually (though it remained very uncommon), Spanish borrowed the translation, hence i griega. To an even lesser extent, the letter i can be called “i Latina”, ie Latin i. This is much more rare, and generally only found in situations when you want extra precision in spelling, and sometimes in education. But it’s less ubiquitous than i griega.

 

[Ahsoka]

Language tag:
@athenarose @LexieBoo @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @ChuuAntics @MyLovelyLove @alo @Chiara @eclipsoul @sick @Moguri

 

[ChiaraStar169]

interesting!

 

[Dreamer_of_Songs]

I am not surprised by this at all (since I speak Spanish).

 

[eclipsoul]

in polish y is also called igrek so i get it but i didn't know spanish also had that

 

[Ahsoka]

in polish y is also called igrek so i get it but i didn't know spanish also had that

I guess since both took their alphabets from Latin

 

[Moguri]

wow.. it sounds complicated

 

[dark_tranquility]

Great knowledge drop