Chapter I to Iapetos of I by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

I to Iapetos

I This letter represents a finger, and is called in Hebrew yod or jod (a hand).

I per se [I by itself], i.e. without compeer, pre-eminently so.

"If then your I [yes] agreement want,
I to your I [yes] must answer, `No.'
Therefore leave off your spelling plea,
And let your I [yes] be I per se."
i.e. let your yes be yes decidedly.
Wits Interpreter, p. 116.

    Many other letters are similarly used; as, A per se. (See A-Per-Se.) Thus in Restituta Eliza is called "The E per ce of all that ere hath been." So again, "O," signifies a crier, from "O yes! O yes!" We have "Villanies discovered by ... the help of a new crier, called O per se [i.e. superior to his predecessors]." 1666.
   Shakespeare, in Troilus and Cressida, 1, 2, even uses the phrase "a very man per se" = A 1.

I.H.S - i.e. the Greek IHS Sigma, meaning IHSouz (Jesus), the long e (H) being mistaken for a capital H, and the dash perverted into a cross. The letters being thus obtained, St. Bernardine of Siena, in 1347, hit upon the Latin anagram, Jesus Hominum Salvator. In Greek, Ihsoue Hmeteros Swthr. In German, Jesus Heiland Seligmacher. In English, Jesus Heavenly Saviour.
   I.H.S. A notarica of Japheth, Ham, Seth, the three sons of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the Flood.
I.H.S "In hac salus " - i.e. "Hac cruce. "

I.O.U The memorandum of a debt given by the borrower to the lender. It must not contain a promise to pay. The letters mean, "I owe You."
   An I.O.U. requires no stamp, unless it specifies a day of payment, when it becomes a bill, and must have a stamp.

I.R.B Irish Republican Brotherhood, meaning the Fenian conspiracy.

Iachimo [Yak-e-mo ]. An Italian libertine in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

Iago [Yago or E-a'-go ]. Othello's ensign or ancient. He hated the Moor both because Cassio, a Florentine, was preferred to the lieutenancy instead of himself, and also from a suspicion that the Moor had tampered with his wife; but he concealed his hatred so well that Othello wholly trusted him. Iago persuaded Othello that Desdemona intrigued with Cassio, and urged him on till he murdered his bride. His chief argument was that Desdemona had given Cassio a pocket-handkerchief, the fact being that Iago had set on his wife to purloin it. After the death of Desdemona, Emilia (Iago's wife) revealed the fact, and Iago was arrested.
   Shakespeare generally makes three syllables of the name, as -

"Let it not gall your patience, good I-a-go. ii.2
Left in the conduct of the bold I-a-go. ii.2
'Tis one I-a-go, ancient to the general." ii.2

Iambic Father of Iambic verse. Archilochos of Paros (B.C. 714-676).

Ianthe (3 syl.), to whom Lord Byron dedicated his Childe Harolde, was Lady Charlotte Harley, born 1809, and only eleven years old at the time.

Iapetos The father of Atlas and ancestor of the human race, called genus Iäp'eti, the progeny of Iapetus (Greek and Latin mythology). By many considered the same as Japheth, one of the sons of Noah.