The letters U, V and Y were all taken from the letter “Upsilon,” and it
may have been derived from the queer Hebrew form of “Ayin” which closely
resembles Y. The letters U and V were interchangeable. Upsilon, known as
the “Samian letter,” was used by Pythagoras as an emblem to represent
the parting of the ways—the young man making a choice in life.
W
Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers contributed two letters, W (wen) and another
often confused with Y, called “thorn.” These were introduced during the
thirteenth century. The French always called the former letter double
vay, and in English it may be said to represent double U, as its name
indicates. The letter “thorn” had the value of the digraph “th,” and
“ye” in old English should be pronounced “the” like the definite
article.