y doing the work of i
driopteris or dryopteris?
dryopteris. The first vowel is y.
y doing the work of i
The Greek letter upsilon has been written y in English for as long as Greek words have been coming into the language, which is why we have physics, myth, hymn and syntax rather than fisics, mith, himn and sintax. Here upsilon is the vowel of drys, the oak, so the y is carrying the meaning of the first half of the name. An i sounds the same and says nothing.
The class
A Greek upsilon, written y in English and sounding like a plain i.
Same name
Other spellings recorded for dryopteris
The name