The New Student's Reference Work/Y

Y (wī), the twenty-fifth letter, sometimes is a voiced consonant, sometimes a semivowel. The consonant is a palatal, as in beyond, year. The semivowel is closely akin to long e and short i as in happy, Y occurs as a consonant at the beginning of syllables or words, but y the vowel at the middle or end. The vowel is a superfluous letter. Y^e and Y^t are mistakes for the and that, Y resembling an Old English letter for th.