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-
