Ye olde
"Ye olde" is a pseudo–Early Modern English phrase originally used to suggest a connection between a place or business and Merry England (or the medieval period). The term dates to the 1850s or earlier; it continues to be used today, albeit now more frequently in an ironically anachronistic and kitsch fashion. History. Use of "ye olde" dates at least to the late 18th century. The use of the term "ye" to mean "the" derives from Early Modern English, in which "the" was written "þe", employing the Old English letter thorn, "þ". During the Tudor period, the scribal  abbreviation for "þe" was ("þͤ" or "þᵉ" with modern symbols); here, the letter is combined with the letter . Because and look nearly identical in medieval English blackletter (as the in , compared with the in y), the two have since been mistakenly substituted for each other. The connection became less obvious after the letter thorn was discontinued in favour of the digraph . Today, "ye" is often incorrectly pronounced as the archaic pronoun of the same spelling.