• Spacehooks@reddthat.com
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    8 hours ago

    eiðer ð boulder

    So is this supposed to be pronouced “eiyeer ye boulder”

    Lol Feel like decoding.

    • trxxruraxvr@lemmy.world
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      44 minutes ago

      The first printing presses were from Germany, and thus didn’t have letters that don’t exist in German. Y was used only because the in the font common at that time it was the letter that looked most like the thorn, it was never pronounced as a y.

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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      4 hours ago

      Close, it’s a TH not a YE sound. My sick-brained explanation probably confused you hahah. The “ye” you see on old signs is a byproduct of the shift. We phased out the thorn character, and replaced it with a y during that period. So “ye olde tavern” would be pronounced “the old tavern”.

      To use the example you gave, it’d be “either the boulder”.