Why ye olde

Daven Hiskey November 3, pm. Greenaum August 11, am. Marilyn December 8, am. Kimberly Green December 11, am. Leena November 13, am. Larry February 20, am. Thaeri August 1, pm. P Smith November 21, am. Similarly, the entry for old e includes the spelling olde as a standard variant, among an astonishing variety of spellings. Both words have the desired meanings — old "3. Thus, although I didn't find the actual phrase "the old shop" in any spelling in the quotes, it fully conforms with the usage patterns I can see.

I think the spelling "ye olde shoppe" would be unremarkable in a Middle English context. Edit : I just noticed that you call it the "ye" pronoun. It's not. As the quote above shows, this is a variant spelling of the as in, the definite article , and should be pronounced as the.

All of the component pieces are real or at least real-ish ; the whole may not be. There was no real standard at the time -- it would not have been uncommon to see the same word spelled several different ways in the same piece of writing. In some script styles, the thorn looks like a backwards-facing lower-case y.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Hawantme May 31, Very pretty kitty who comes in any colour so long as its a grey tabby. Also likes to be called Saffy and Sapphire. Has a sister called woozle too. Ahhhh Ye Old ur such a pretty kitty! Ye Olde Texting. Daniel Radcliffe: Oh, interesting facts… Well, I mean… okay, so you know when you see a pub sign that says "Ye Olde Tavern" or whatever?

Brendan Francis Newnam: Yeah, yeah — with the "o-l-d-e" spelling, yeah. Daniel Radcliffe: Well the "ye"… everyone pronounces it "yee," but it's not. That "y" is actually a thing called a "thorn. The A. By Lauren Davis. Haryy Po I mean, Daniel Radcliffe mentioned this!