How did the practice of capitalizing the pronoun I come about?

Answer 1

In the 12th century, shortening of the Old English word 'ic', first person singular nomative pronoun, was reduced to 'i' by 1137 in northern England, it began to be capitalized c.1250 to mark it as a distinct word and avoid misreading in handwritten manuscripts.

"The reason for writing 'I' is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun."

Answer 2

Pronouns provide a reference to a person/place/thing without directly naming it. Therefore one is relieved of the obligation to capitalize, since the name is missing and there can be a level of ambiguity. The only pronoun where this ambiguity does not exist is "I". When "I" is used, it can only refer to a single individual, the speaker.

Note that some people choose to capitalize "he" when using the pronoun to refer to a divinity, in order to show proper reverence. I personally believe that using a pronoun to refer to a divinity shows a lack of reverence in itself.

Answer 3

Proper nouns are capitalized. The pronoun "I" is technically a proper pronoun, therefore it is capitalized.

Answer 4

Pro=for/instead(of) the noun. Since pronouns take the place of proper nouns I (Mary) You (Cindy) He (Tom) They (Tom & Cathy) they are capitalized. We know that there is a real person with a name behind it. The only one that isn't generally capitalized is 'it' unless it refers to a proper noun ie. country, book, movie....

Answer 5

If the other answers are correct, then shouldn't we capitilize the pronouns You, Me, Them, etc.?