Iotated E
Template:Short description Template:Infobox grapheme
Iotated E or Iotated Ukrainian Ye also known as Iye(Template:Slavonic Template:Slavonic) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It is used in the Church Slavonic language and Early Cyrillic.
HistoryEdit
Iotated E has no equivalent in the Glagolitic alphabet, and probably originated as a ligature of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr to represent the sounds {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
UsageEdit
Iotated E is found in some of the very oldest examples of Cyrillic writing, such as the tenth-century Mostich inscription or the Codex Suprasliensis, whereas in others, such as the Enina Apostle or Undol'skij Fragments, it is not present at all. It is plentifully attested in medieval manuscripts of both South Slavic and East Slavic provenance, co-existing with Template:Angbr, which fulfils the same function. Orthographic practice nevertheless varies: some manuscripts use all three characters, some Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, some Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, and some only Template:Angbr.
Among the Eastern Slavs Template:Angbr fell into disuse after the end of the fourteenth century, and it is not therefore represented in printed books from this area, or in modern Church Slavonic. In the South, however, it survived, and was used in the first Serbian printed book, the Octoechos (Oktoih prvoglasnik) of 1474, and appears in the Serbian abecedarium printed in Venice in 1597;<ref>Први српски буквар инока Саве, Венеција 1597, приредио Михаило Блечић, Београд, 1991</ref> its position in the alphabet in this book is between Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr. It continued to be used in both manuscript and printed material throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but it no longer appears in the alphabet in M. Karaman's abecedarium of 1753.<ref>Петар Ђорђић, Историја српске ћирилице, Београд, 1971, p.193</ref> In certain orthographical variants of Bulgarian, it can be found at least up to the middle of the 19th century.<ref>Excerpts from a Bulgarian book of 1865: ru:Файл:Примеры Е йотированного в гражданке.gif</ref> Bulgarian variants from the 1800s often include the letter as a ligature of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, rather than Template:Angbr. The sound of Ѥ is written using the letters Ye (Е) or Ukrainian Ye (Є) in east Slavic languages. South Slavic languages usually use the combinations Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr.
