"Y THE 25 th letter of the English alphabet, , is in Teutonic and Romanic languages generally a vowel when occurring in the body or at the end of syllables, and an aspirated gutturo-lingual consonant when beginning them, as in the words yes, Yonne. Its form is derived from the Greek T, and in French and Spanish it is called "the Greek I." In English its sound as a vowel varies from that in my to that in body; in Dutch, on the other hand, it always has the same full diphthongal sound as in the English my. In recent German writing it is the fashion to use it only in foreign proper names, i being substituted in such words as bei and sein, where it was formerly employed; and in recent Dutch writing ij is used instead of it, as Bilderdijk for Bilderdyk. In the Hungarian language, when occurring in a syllable after g, I, n, and t, it is pronounced much as in the English words yes, year, gy sounding like dy (nearly as di in soldier), ly like the French I mouille, and ny like the Spanish n. In Latin it is used as a small letter only, and never as a capital; while in Spanish manuscript the capital Y is used instead of I. - Y has been called the Pythagorean letter, because Pythagoras used its Greek original to represent the sacred triad, formed by the duad proceeding from the monad, and also the dividing of the paths of vice and virtue in the development of human life.