_ȝ_: called '_ȝoȝ_' or '_yogh_', derives from _<g>_, the OE. script form of the letter _g_. It was retained in ME. after the Caroline form _g_ had become established in vernacular texts, to represent a group of spirant sounds: (i) The initial spirant in _ȝoked_ IX 253 (OE. _geoc-_), _ȝere_ I 151 (OE. _gēar_), where the sound was approximately the same as in our _yoke_, _year_. Except in texts specially influenced by the tradition of French spelling, _y_ (which is ambiguous owing to its common use as a vowel = _i_) is less frequent than _ȝ_ initially. Medially the palatal spirant is represented either by _ȝ_ or _y_: _eȝe_ (OE. _ē(a)ȝ-_) XV _c_ 14 beside _eyen_ VIII _a_ 168; _iseȝe_ (OE. _gesegen_) XIV _c_ 88 beside _iseye_ XIV _c_ 16. The medial guttural spirant more commonly develops to _w_ in the fourteenth century: _awe_ (ON. _agi_) I 83, _felawe_ (ON. _félagi_) XIV _d_ 7, _halwes_ (OE. _halg-_), beside _aȝ-_ V 267, _felaȝ-_ V 83, _halȝ-_ V 54. (ii) The medial or final spirant, guttural or palatal, which is lost in standard English, but still spelt in _nought_, _through_, _night_, _high_: ME. _noȝt_, _þurȝ_, _nyȝt_, _hyȝ_: OE. _noht_, _þurh_, _niht_, _hēh_. The ME. sound was probably like that in German _ich_, _ach_. The older spelling with _h_ is occasionally found; more often _ch_ as in _mycht_ X 17; but the French spelling _gh_ gains ground throughout the century. Abnormal are _write_ for _wrighte_ XVI 230, _wytes_, _nytes_ for _wyȝtes_, _nyȝtes_ XV _i_ 19 f. (iii) As these sounds weakened in late Southern ME., _ȝ_ was sometimes used without phonetic value, or at the most to reinforce a long _i_: e.g. _Engliȝsch_ XI _a_ 28, 37, &c.; _kyȝn_ 'kine' IX 256. N.B.—Entirely distinct in origin and sound value, but identical in script form, is _ȝ_, the minuscule form of _z_, in _Aȝone_ (= _Azone_) I 105, _clyffeȝ_ 'cliffs' V 10, &c. It would probably be better to print _z_ in such words.