I always thought that ye was pronounced “yee” because that is how they say it in the movies. Yea, I will hang my head in shame later on.
“Ye” for “The”
Do all young readers know that the word so often printed “ye” (as in “ye olde fashioned singinge schoole”) is to be pronounced simply “the”? The y is only a substitute for an Anglo Saxon character that was used for the softer sound of th. You may read how the y came to be used by turning to the word “the” in the Century Dictionary, where the matter is clearly explained. And while looking in that same volume, turn over to the end and glance at the long list of authorities quoted in making up a dictionary.
Source (1904, April 08). Ye for the. The Rice Belt Journal, p. 6.
