In Dutch the last three letters of the alphabet are X - IJ - Z. For a capital IJ the I is written shorter, and placed on top of the curve of the J. We also use the I, the J, the Y in our language. Dutch typewriters, in much older days, had the "ij" on the keyboard. However, in dictionaries there was a small number of words starting with Y at the end, and words starting with an IJ were placed under the letter I. I remember as a child thinking this was rather dishonest.
As you can see my name has the letter IJ in it. I have to be careful when writing that on official forms in the US - making it into two letters, I and J. Otherwise my name will be written with a U (at the end).
In Dutch the last three letters of the alphabet are X - IJ - Z. For a capital IJ the I is written shorter, and placed on top of the curve of the J. We also use the I, the J, the Y in our language. Dutch typewriters, in much older days, had the "ij" on the keyboard. However, in dictionaries there was a small number of words starting with Y at the end, and words starting with an IJ were placed under the letter I. I remember as a child thinking this was rather dishonest.
As you can see my name has the letter IJ in it. I have to be careful when writing that on official forms in the US - making it into two letters, I and J. Otherwise my name will be written with a U (at the end).
Thank you so much Antoinette, fascinating. So Ijsselmeer could be Ysselmeer I suppose.
Interesting analysis! Eye have always been a "whys" one, and as a musician, AYE like to JAM!
Going now to read about "m"!
As Bob Marley used to sing 'Jam-min in the name of the Lord!'