ي yā : ي yā
called ياي حطي yā-e-ḥut̤t̤ī, or
ياي مثنات تحتاني yā-e-mus̤annāt-i-taḥtānī, the
twenty-eighth letter of the
Arabic and
thirty-second of the Per- sian
alphabet, corresponds to य in
Sanskrit. When
appropriated to
denote a
number, it
stands for ten. In
almanacks it
represents Jupiter, or the sign
Aquarius. It is like ا and و one of the
ḥurūf-i-iﻌllat, or weak
letters, being like the
English y
sometimes a
consonant and
sometimes a
vowel. In the for- mer case, it is one of the
palatine letters, sounding like y in
youth. In
Sanskrit, the य may be
pronounced either like y or j; and in words
derived from that
language ज is
generally sub-
stituted for य. When ي
sākin or
quiescent is
preceded immediately by a
consonant sounded with kasr, they
denote the long
vowels ī or e; and, when by one
pronounced with
fatʼḥa, the
dipthong ai. If the first sound is
denoted, the ي is
called ياي معروف yā-e-maﻌrūf; if the se- cond,
ياي مجہول yā-e-majʼhūl; and, if the
third, ياي ساکن ماقبل مفتوح yā-e-sākin mā
ḳabl maftūḥ. It is
considered homogenous with
ḳasr; and a
quiescent ي never
follows the vowel
ẓamm. After a
madda, or
simple long
vowel, a ي is quite
silent or very
nearly so; as, in
خوي ḵẖū, The
disposition, جاي jā, A
place: and, in these cases it is often
omitted in
writing. It is
changed in
Arabic (1) into ٴ
hamza, as,
بائيع bāʼịﻌ for
بايع bāyiﻌ, A
seller: (2) into ا alif; as
باع bāʼaﻌ, for
بيع bayaʼaﻌ, He sold: (3) into و as
طوبي t̤ūbạ̄, Agreeable, for
طيبي: (4) into ت as
اتّسريتّسر ittasara, yattasiru, for
ايتسرييتسر ītasara, yaita- siru, He
played with dice, he may play with dice: (5) into ج as
فقيمج fuḳaimaj, for
فقيمي fuḳaimī, One of the tribe
فقيم fuḳaim. It is
sometimes substituted for ا as
يرمغان yarma-