I (). 1. I, the ninth letter of the English alphabet, takes its form
from the Phœnician, through the Latin and the Greek. The Phœnician
letter was probably of Egyptian origin. Its original value was nearly
the same as that of the Italian I, or long e as in mete. Etymologically
I is most closely related to e, y, j, g; as in dint, dent, beverage, L.
bibere; E. kin, AS. cynn; E. thin, AS. þynne; E. dominion, donjon,
dungeon. In English I has two principal vowel sounds: the long sound,
as in pne, ce; and the short sound, as in pn. It has also three other
sounds: (a) That of e in term, as in thirst. (b) That of e in mete (in
words of foreign origin), as in machine, pique, regime. (c) That of
consonant y (in many words in which it precedes another vowel), as in
bunion, million, filial, Christian, etc. It enters into several
digraphs, as in fail, field, seize, feign. friend; and with o often
forms a proper diphtong, as in oil, join, coin.
See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 98-106.
The dot which we place over the small or lower case i dates only from
the 14th century. The sounds of I and J were originally represented by
the same character, and even after the introduction of the form J into
English dictionaries, words containing these letters were, till a
comparatively recent time, classed together.
2. In our old authors, I was often used for ay (or aye), yes, which is
pronounced nearly like it.