The letter =Y= is called the letter of Pythagoras because that
philosopher made it the symbol of life. The foot of the letter, he said,
represented infancy, and as man gradually rises to the age of reason, he
finds two paths set before him, the one leading to good, the other to
evil, portrayed by two forks of the letter. The illustration is the
device of Jean de Morvilliers (+ 1577), Chancellor of France; the harrow
tied to the Pythagorean Υ, a _rebus_ on his name _Mort-vie-liers_—“Death
and life united.” The harrow is the symbol of Death, which makes all
things equal. (Fig. 701.)
[Illustration: Fig. 701. Device of Morvilliers. (The Pythagorean Y.)]
=Yacca.= An ornamental Jamaica wood used for cabinet-making.
=Yard= (from the Saxon _geard_ or _gyrd_, from _gyrdan_, to enclose).
Originally estimated to measure the _girth_ of a man’s body; until Henry
I. decreed that it should be the length of his arm.
=Yataghan.= A Turkish dagger or scimitar.
=Yawl.= A man-of-war’s boat, rowed with six oars.
=Ychma=, Peruv. The name for wild cinnabar among the ancient Peruvians;
it was employed by them for painting the body and drawing figures on the
face and arms.
=Yellow.= One of the three primary colours; producing with _green_,
blue; and with _red_, orange. The principal yellow pigments are
_gamboge_ (bluish), _gold ochre_ (reddish), _yellow ochre_, _Naples
yellow_, _chrome yellow_, _lemon yellow_, _Indian yellow_, _gall-stone_,
_Roman ochre_, _Mars yellow_, _terra di Siena_, _Italian pink_, _cadmium
yellow_, &c.
=Yellow=, in Christian art, or gold, was the symbol of the sun; of the
goodness of God, initiation or marriage, faith or fruitfulness. In a bad
sense yellow signifies inconstancy, jealousy, deceit; in this sense it
is given to the traitor Judas, who is generally habited in dirty yellow.
=Yellow Arsenic.= (See YELLOW ORPIMENT.)
=Yellow Flag.= Denoting sickness on board of a ship or quarantine.
=Yellow Lake.= A bright pigment, very susceptible to the action of light
or metal. (See PINKS.)
=Yellow Metal.= A composition, two-thirds copper and one-third zinc.
=Yellow Ochre.= An argillaceous earth, coloured by admixture of iron.
(See OCHRE.)
=Yellow Orpiment= (_auripigmentum_). A bright and pure yellow pigment,
but not durable, and dries very slowly; called also _Yellow Arsenic_.
=Yeoman= of the Guard. A beef-eater; one of the British sovereign’s
state body-guard; below the _gentleman-at-arms_. Instituted at the
coronation of Henry VII. in 1485.
=Yew.= _Taxus baccata._ The word is largely used in cabinet-making. The
excellence of the wood for making bows led to the trees being planted in
churchyards, to preserve them.
=Ymaigier.= (See IMAGIER.)
=Ymaigerie=, =Imagery=, Med. (1) Illuminated borders on missals and
manuscripts executed by the miniaturists of the Middle Ages. (2)
Bas-reliefs and sculptures on wood and stone.
[Illustration: Fig. 702. Yoke. Device of Pope Leo X.]
=Yoke.= A symbolical device assumed by Pope Leo X. in allusion to the
text “My yoke is easy,” expressed in the one word of the motto
“_Suave_.” (See JUGUM.) Fig. 702.
=York Collar.= Her. Was formed of alternate _Suns_ and _Roses_.
=York Herald.= One of the six Heralds of the College of Arms. (See
HERALDS.)
=York Rose.= Her. The _white_ rose of the family of York. (See Fig.
589.)
=Yorkshire Grit.= A stone used for polishing marble and engravers’
copper plates.
=Ypres Lace= is the finest and most costly kind of VALENCIENNES.
=Yu=, Chinese. (1) A hard and heavy stone, supposed to be a kind of
agate which was used for the ancient musical instrument KING, which was
a kind of harmonicon made of slabs of sonorous stone of different sizes.
(2) An ancient name for a curious wind instrument of high antiquity,
which is still in use and is now called _cheng_. It consists of a number
of tubes placed in a _calabash_, or bowl, and blown into through a long
curved tube.
=Yucatan.= A province of Mexico remarkable for its architectural
monuments of a forgotten civilization, described by _Stephens, Incidents
of Travel in Yucatan_. (See MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE.)
=Yufts.= A kind of Russia leather, red and soft, with a pleasant smell.
=Yule=, O. E. Christmas time.