Daily Ancestorye
In old documents ye means "the": the y stands in for the old letter thorn (th), so ye body reads as "the body."
The y in ye is not a real y. It replaces the old letter thorn, which stood for the th sound and looked a lot like a y in late handwriting and print. So ye was always read "the," never "yee."
You will see it, often with a small e raised above the y, on early gravestones, in deeds and in wills. The same trick produced yt for "that." Do not confuse it with ye meaning you, which appears in sermons and the Bible.
As seen in a recordInscription on an eighteenth century gravestone
Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Hannah Cole
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "ye." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/ye. Last checked 2026-10-01.