two changes at once
It sounded like lee at the start
That syllable is written ly.
two changes at once
The opening vowel of this word is genuinely unstable in English. Some speakers say lie, some say lick, and some say lee, and each of them will write it down differently. None of the three has any claim on the spelling, because y in a Greek word is not recording an English vowel at all. It is standing in for a letter English does not have.
The class
Two separate decisions about the letters, both made at once.
Same name
Other spellings recorded for lycopodium
The name