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y-

An archaic form marking the past participle.

Old English ge‑.

In Old English ge‑ marked the past participle of words (issued, sent), as it does in modern German. By the fourteenth century, this had dwindled to y‑ (ybaptised, yblamed), or had vanished altogether. Writers from the fifteenth century have used it as a conscious anachronism in forms such as yclept, ‘called or named’.

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