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Ye Olde is a stock prefix, used often anachronistically in the case of theme pubs, to indicate things of medieval extraction, things which are English, or, as in popular caricature (especially in the United States) the two are synonymous, both indicating, perhaps, a Deep England, half-timbered feel. The construction Ye Olde English Pubbe is the usual example, a standard bar name akin to The Red Lion.
The use of the term "Ye" to represent a pseudo-Early Modern English form of the word "the" is, in fact, incorrect. This mistaken attribution is due to the medieval usage of the letter thorn (þ) the predecessor to the modern digraph "th". Thorn (þ) is a letter which is today only in common use in Icelandic. The word "The" was thus written Þe. Medieval Printing presses didn't contain the letter "thorn", so the y was substituted due to its similarity in some medieval scripts (especially later ones).1
See also
External links
- Ye Olde English Sayings
- Ye Olde England Inn, a mock-Tudor hotel complete with references to Dickens and warm beer.
- Oxford Dictionary's FAQ: Why is 'ye' used instead of 'the' in antique English?
References
- ^ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2008. Merriam-Webster Online. 10 September 2008 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ye
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