It was often used for “f” as well, specifically in print to save money.
Towards the end of the article, they explain the same thing was done with using “y” to replace the letters that make the “th” sound (ð and þ) so instead of “the” or “ðe” you got “ye”
This was fun! Anyone know about the ſ character? How come in the 1600s it only sometimes seemed to take the place of s?
It’s purely stylistic, but here are the rules - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s#Rules
It looks almost like the old german “S”.
It was often used for “f” as well, specifically in print to save money.
Towards the end of the article, they explain the same thing was done with using “y” to replace the letters that make the “th” sound (ð and þ) so instead of “the” or “ðe” you got “ye”