What's in the Lower Case?

  If you have read my blog very long, you have probably been hit in the face by my unrelenting use of a lowercase i as first person singular.
  If you've been reading attentively, you will have also noticed that i rigorously capitalize that first person singular when quoting, or "as if" quoting, and that i also capitalize pronouns referring to God.

  These are not unrelated.

  Nor are they any indication of feelings of inadequacy, though possibly attempts to remind myself to be humble.

  In studying foreign languages - maybe a lot for an American, but not actually very many, and all VERY rusty - i've not found a single other language that capitalizes the first person singular.
  French, je.  German, ich.  No capitals.  If i remember correctly, Latin even subsumes the pronoun into the verb.
  Anyone got an example, or counterexample to add?
  i used to know more, but they all worked the same way.  No capitals.
  German capitalizes the formal/plural version of the second person pronoun.  We know that one as "you."

  Why is that?  What makes English different?

One of my selections in Stories from the Heartland is an expansion of this blogpost.