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the letter "Y"

fra ganymeder,2009 3 12

Meldinger: 17

Språk: English

ganymeder (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 12 13:51:27

I didn't see this addressed in any other threads, but how do you say the name for the letter "Y" in Esperanto?

In "Mi estas komencanto" lesson 6, it says that when spelling out something you just say the letter as it is pronounced in esperanto. So if you spell out your email address, it would sound as each individual letter sounds in Esperanto. But the problem is that Esperanto does not use all the English letters. My email has a "Y" in it. What am I supposed to say?

Dankon!

Oŝo-Jabe (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 12 13:57:24

The non-Esperanto letters are named ikso (x), kuo (q), ipsilono (y), and duobla vo (w).

jchthys (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 12 23:24:02

And there are variants, such as "vo germana" (w), and I think "i greka" (y).

erinja (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 01:13:48

I learned "germana vo" as an alternative, when I was a beginner, but I have never actually heard someone use that term, after years of speaking. I have never heard of the terms "i greka", or "greka i", let alone having heard them used. Perhaps someone influenced by their native language might say that, but even so, I've never heard it.

"Vavo" is a common alternative for W. I have never heard Y called anything but "ipsilono".

KoLonJaNo (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 03:17:35

Hello!

jchthys:And there are variants, such as "vo germana" (w), and I think "i greka" (y).
Decades ago when I started learning Esperanto, w was ĝermana (!) vo.

It seems vavo has become increasingly popular along with the rise of the Web and the need to pronounce www fast enough. okulumo.gif

I greka, on the other hand, is used e.g. in French and Russian. The name is confusing since there is actually a letter I (iota) in the Greek alphabet.

Ύ ψιλόν is the name of Y in the Greek alphabet itself, so ipsilono seems to be the natural choice.

Kolonjano

Rogir (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 15:20:13

And what about the names for ß, ö, æ, ø, å, ç, or cyrillic letters?

KoLonJaNo (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 17:45:31

Hello!

Rogir:And what about the names for ß, ö, æ, ø, å, ç, or cyrillic letters?
That is an interesting question which you might ask in the German, French, Russian and Scandinavian forums as well. okulumo.gif

According to the last page of [1]:

- names of letters that are part of the German alphabet but not the Esperanto one:

q = kuo
w = ĝermana vo
x = ikso
y = ipsilono

- umlauts:

ä = a tremao (explicitly mentioned)
ö = o tremao (by analogy)
ü = u tremao (by analogy)

- special German letter ß:

not in [1], but in [2]:

"Eszett n ein Graphem des deutschen Alphabets (Buchstabe ß) esceto"

According to Esperanto Wikipedia sozo may be used, too.

- other letters mentioned in [1]:

ø = o trastreko
ç = c subhoko or c cedilo

Kolonjano

[1] KRAUSE, Erich-Dieter: Wörterbuch Deutsch-Esperanto. 2., durchges. Aufl. Leipzig usw.: Langenscheidt 1993.

[2] KRAUSE, Erich-Dieter: Großes Wörterbuch Deutsch-Esperanto. Hamburg: Buske 2007.

henma (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 18:16:01

KoLonJaNo:Decades ago when I started learning Esperanto, w was ĝermana (!) vo.
Oh, Kolonjano, I don't think you are that old, as to have been a "ĝermano" instead of a "germano" when you started learning Esperanto!!!

rido.gif okulumo.gif

On the other hand, thanks a lot for all this interesting information...

Have you also the name for our ñ, by any chance?

Amike,

Daniel.

darkweasel (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 19:51:04

KoLonJaNo:
According to Esperanto Wikipedia sozo may be used, too.
Which, however, may well cause confusion with the actual sequence of "sz" (so zo). I think "esceto" is a good word for ß.

... and now we'll see people discussing about ð, ø, æ and who-knows-what-else-letters. okulumo.gif

henma: You may try "no tilda", since the name for a tilde is "tildo"

jchthys (Å vise profilen) 2009 3 13 20:32:07

darkweasel:
KoLonJaNo:According to Esperanto Wikipedia sozo may be used, too.
Which, however, may well cause confusion with the actual sequence of "sz" (so zo). I think "esceto" is a good word for ß.
That's the point: the German eszett is literally "es-zed". Historically, the letter is a ſs (or ſz) ligature, ſ being the archaic non-final s.

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