When was the letter j created

When Was The Letter "J" Invented? (And Was It Before Jesus?)

Some of you may be aware that the letter J is one of the more recent additions to our alphabet. But when was it invented? And what was language like before it came into existence?

When Was The Letter “J” Invented?

The Letter J was invented for the Italian language by a man called “Gian Giorgio Trissino” in the year 1524. It was used in Roman Numerals, but back then, it was an alternative way of writing I, not its own letter. Before the letter J, Jesus’ name was pronounced “Yeh-Soos”.

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The History Of The Letter J

Let’s go over the history of the letter J and see how it went from being an alternative version of I to its own letter.

In the year 1524, Italian Gian Giorgio Trissino was the first to use J as a letter. The sound that this new letter would make has another common way of being written “dg“. Due to the influence that Latin and French had on Italian, the letter J was just another way of writing “dg”.

However, back then, the usage of J was far from common, even in Italy, and it wouldn’t be until much later that it would become as recognisable as it is today. It’s unlikely he would have lived long enough to see his new letter become popular.

Much later in the 16th century, a Frenchman called Pierre Ramous was the next person to separate I from J. Back then, words that today we would spell with a J would have been spelt with an I. But, this was only amongst a few French scholars.

It wasn’t until the 17th century that the letter J became common in English. If you read some of the older versions of the King James Bible, you will see the letter I where today’s version has the letter J.

What Was Jesus’ Name Before The Letter J?

Did you know that Jesus’ name wasn’t actually Jesus?

When he was alive, the letter J did not exist. And his name was “Yeshua”. This name is the same place that we get the name “Joshua” from.

The reason why modern English translations use Joshua and Jesus as two separate names is to separate the two to prevent people from getting them mixed up.

Before the Letter J was invented, to translate the Hebrew name “Yeshua” into English would have given you Yesus. This is what Jesus was known as for most of English history.

Most of the names we give people in the Bible are not their actual names.

Yahweh Vs Jehovah: What Is God’s Real Name?

If you read Christian literature, there will be two names that God tends to be given. One of them is Jehovah and the other is Yahweh. The reason why God seems to have two names is that his original Hebrew name has been translated differently.

In the Bible, his name is “הֹוָה‎ Yəhōwā,”. When spelt out phonetically, this name sounds like Yahweh.

However, if you were to take the letters of his original name, and turn them into Latin letters, his name is closer to Jehovah.

Because the Bible wasn’t written in English, it can be translated in multiple different ways.

The Letter J In Roman Numerals

Before J was a letter, it was an alternative way of writing I in Roman numerals. In Roman numerals, they would use letters like I, X, and V instead of numbers.

But sometimes, when there was no longer going to be any I’s, people would put a J at the end of the number instead of a final I.

Therefore XIII and XIIJ were different ways of writing the number 13.

There are two ideas as to why some Romans did this. The first idea is that it simply looked better. But the second is that it prevented people from putting another I at the end. Similarly to how you might write “Twenty Pounds Only” on a cheque.

Leftovers From Before The Letter J Was Invented

As we mentioned earlier in the article, the letters “dg” can have the same sound as the letter J. For example, in words such as Hedge and Edge.

Because people already had the “dg”, there was not any need for the letter J.

You can generally tell how old a word is by whether it uses “dg” or J. Older words tend to use “dg”, whereas newer words tend to use J.

Words That Use A Silent J

Some words that we use that use the letter J. But it’s not pronounced that way.

In words such as Hallelujah, the J is pronounced the same way that Y is. This is because that word was invented before the letter J was used. So even though the spelling changed over time, its pronunciation stayed similar to its original.

And in words such as “Jalapeno“, the J is pronounced as an H. This is because it is not an English word, it’s Spanish. So the letter pronunciation rules will not be the same as they would for an English word.

What Is J In The Greek Alphabet?

One question I’ve seen pop up is “What is the letter J in the Greek alphabet?”. And, as many of you will probably be able to figure out, the Greek alphabet doesn’t have a letter for J.

It wasn’t used as a letter until 1524. And the Greek Alphabet is several thousands of years older than that. The Greek alphabet didn’t even have a G sound.

In the Ancient Greek language, there were no words that would have made the J sound. Much like in English, there are no words that make the “ü” sound.

Conclusion

And that is all the information you should know about the letter J. Maybe you knew that it was a newbie but didn’t know much about the history behind it.

Or perhaps you were new to the fact that J is a new addition to the English language.

It’s interesting to think about how we can invent new letters. Perhaps in the future, sounds like “sh”, “ch” and “Gr” will get their own letters- only time will tell.

But, next time you hear someone talk about Jesus, Joshua, Yeshua, Yahweh, or Jehovah, you’ll now know more about where these words come from, and how alternative translations have altered how we say them in modern English.

When was the letter j invented? The letter "J" is only 500 years old — Warriors Of The Ruwach

FUN FACT:

The letter "J" was the last addition to the English alphabet.

Feelings aren’t facts and while they may be YOUR truth it doesn’t make it THE truth! Every English bible is a heavily translated, and extremely watered-down westernized version of the melanated Middle Eastern Hebrew people's history and culture. If we aren’t willing to have an open mind, take an emotional step back, and look at the scriptures from the perspective of the Hebrew people, because of the conditioned western mindset the Hebrew script is vastly misinterpreted. This simple oversight has caused the masses to believe in false ideologies, false names, false images, false prophets, false symbols/customs, and unapproved ways of worshipping the Creator (traditions of men) that were NEVER commanded by the Heavenly Father and NEVER originated with His people (the Hebrews) of the bible.

With this said, it’s NO secret that the New Testament has several profound contradictions to the Old Testament, and the religion of Christianity depends solely on the Old Testament. Since we know the Ancient Hebrews in the Old Testament were NEVER commanded by YaHuWaH to have a religion or to worship the Creator by way of pagan customs, deep unbiased research educates us with various overwhelming facts revealing that Christianity NEVER had a leg to stand on. Historical research uncovers that the pagan Roman Catholic Church birthed (at the Council of Nicaea) many various flavors of their solar / sun worshiping religion (Astrolatry, based on the movement of the sun and stars). Christianity being their most dominant form is still at the forefront today. This is why history records many other cultures having various gods and or saviors / Christs like Jesus who are demigods (Gods who had children my mortals), sound familiar.

After many years of dedicated unbiased research, the purpose of this information is to be a starting point or stepping stone for everyone beginning their journey down the path of truth. We DON’T claim to know everything but as we make time for YaHuWaH, we grow and will be guided by the Creator. Always do your OWN unbiased research and validate everything EVERYONE says. Deny the urge to react in emotion, but instead, challenge the truth by doing your own unbiased research and finding out the FACTS for yourself. It’s ok to disagree with something, but using one’s opinion or emotion to dispute FACT is futile.

The same premises pertains to the ABaRiY (aka Hebrew) scriptures, and if you attempt to overstand Eastern Hebraic culture using our conditioned, Christian westernized mindset, most will lean toward their OWN understanding because it FEELS right to THEM (MaShaL 3:5-6 “Proverbs”)! When we fail to make time to learn the mind of ABa YaHuWaH (by way of humility, prayer, studying the pure Hebraic scriptural truth, and being willing to unlearn passed-down lies) we can unknowingly blaspheme the truth and claim ALuWaH (the “Mighty one” but in English translated to the generic title “God”) is co-signing on OUR opinions and emotions. In regards to the Hebrew script, when someone’s opinion is backed by the word, its NO LONGER opinion but FACT! If YaHuWaH said it or did it, who are we to dispute it (YaShAYaHuW 55:8-13 “Isaiah”)? You have to use and explain scripture if you are disagreeing with YaHuWaH’s word and not opinion or emotion.

Before anyone attempts to pick up a bible, they must over stand the first fundamental fact regarding the scriptures. This critical fact levels the playing field and empowers our logical thinking mind to discern the truth from the lies, so we can more easily consume the mysteries of truth that were hidden from ABa (Father) YaHuWaHs elect ones in the bible. As scripture reads "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (YaRaMiYaHuW 29:13 "Jeremiah"). The FACTS on this website are the direct result of several painstakingly, dedicated years of extensive unbiased research, validation outside of the suggested Babylonian curriculum, in-depth conversations with pastors, and those with many years of religion (including Christianity) under their belt.

The scriptures are a Middle Eastern Hebraic book about THEIR culture (NOT European or Latin). Their story was then heavily translated by the pagan Roman Catholic Empire into what the world now knows as the bible. These disoriented alterations were done to fit THEIR pagan narrative and THEIR newly created organized religion called Christianity. These decreed pagan ideologies and traditions were then forced on various Roman conquered races establishing THEIR religion as a worldwide superpower. This perpetuated illusory truth effect subliminal brainwashing has ultimately deceived the whole world into falling in love with a lie.

This is why when you make time to do unbiased study and research on “the bible”, the FACTS reveal that several English words used throughout all translated bibles have pagan connotations to various gods (theLORD, God, Christ, Jesus, glory just to name a few). This makes perfect sense since we know history teaches us that the Roman Catholic Empire is a pagan polycystic race of people. It DOESN’T take a quantum physicist to understand that when words (or names) are translated from one language to another, things get lost and things are added. The Hebrew Script has been translated (not transliterated which is the chasing of sound) from the ABaRiY (aka Hebrew) language into English, thus the pure meaning behind the Hebrew words and names has been erased. This is a violation the scripture clearly warns against doing and rightfully so. Altering the history of a race of people now removes the truth and adds in lies (DaBaRiYM 4:2 and 12:32 "Deuteronomy", and ChaZaN 22:18-19 "Revelation").

Scripture reminds us in MaShaL 4:7 (Proverbs) that we must FIRST get an understanding (make time to research both sides of any story) and that a fool has no interest in understanding; they only want to hear their own opinions come out of other peoples mouth (MaShaL 18:2-3 “Proverb”). The highest form of ignorance is rejecting or responding to information you have absolutely NO knowledge about in emotion. YaQuWB 1:19-27 (James) gives wisdom on making quick emotional responses, and this also pertains to information that may seem unpopular to the masses or that you DON’T personally agree with. Scriptures remind us that is it foolish to respond to a matter without FULLY hearing (MaShaL 18:12-15 “Proverbs”). Choosing to put a puzzle together without having all pieces would be unwise, why? Because it yields incorrect perceptions of what that puzzle is REALLY supposed to look like. DON’T let ignorance, jealousy or pride be the death of your RuWaCh (spirit) because you chose to reject truth due to emotion or passed down traditions of men (the pagan Roman Catholic / Christian church system) by way of your fathers, fathers (who were also mislead). Our duty as the elect of YaHuWaH is to share the truth, NOT make people believe it. We DON’T want you to think like us, we just want you to think!

NO WHERE in the Greek manuscripts (where the English bibles are translated from) is the name Jesus

Jesus Will Not Save You

When the truth of the Hebrew script is backed by the Hebrew Old Testament, it destroys all the implanted misinformation in the Westernized, English-translated bibles. Tovia Singer, explains that Jesus can’t save you.

500 years ago the letter "J" did not exist in any language on this earth, so NO letter "J" 500 years ago, and NO name "Jesus" 2,000 years ago. The letter "J" is a fairly recent addition to the alphabet (around the 1500's), and unbiased research / historical data prove it's IMPOSSIBLE for the names JESUS or JeHoVaH to even have been on the planet back in the ancient times. Originally a Phoenician pictogram representing a leg with a hand, and denoting a sound similar to the Y in “yes,” the "i" was LATER adopted by Semitic groups to describe the word “arm” which, in Semitic languages, began with a "J" (also possessing the same Y sound as in “yes”). The man responsible for the letter “J” was Gian Giorgio Trissino an Italian Renaissance grammarian known as the father of the letter “J”. In 1524, Gian Trissino made a clear distinction between the two sounds. Trissino’s contribution is important to know because once he distinguished the soft “J” sound, as in “jam”, Gian Trissino identified the Greek “IESUS” (a translation of the Aramaic “YeShuWA” h4443) as the Modern English “Jesus”, thus the current phoneme for “J” was born.

We who are in the truth are NOT afraid of FACTS, and we are NOT afraid of what information we find or uncover. We love knowledge and simply strive to know the truth at all costs. We know that the bible is a ABaRiY (aka Hebrew) original book about the ABaRiY culture and that it’s been translated down through various languages. Due to the various translations the pure truth, history, meaning, identity and lineage within the ABaRiY scriptures have been wiped away. There is NO letter "J" in the original 22 Hebrew letters and today in modern Hebrew, there is STILL NO letters "J", “O”, “F” or “E”.

Even in the KJV 1611 year bible, there are NO letter J's AT ALL in that bible. WHY? Because again, the letter "J" didn't exist at that time! Pastors SWEAR the savior’s name was always Jesus, and if that's true, then the scriptures should back that up right? WRONG! You WON'T be able to find the false name Jesus anywhere in the KJV 1611 bible or in any book published in 1500's. WHY? Because again,the letter "J" didn't exist! In 1537, William Tyndale's partial translation of the Bible into English was published, which would eventually be incorporated into the King James Bible. The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between the sound of "I" and the sound of "J" was not written until 1634. Research uncovers that the letter "J" was the last of the 26 letters to be added to the English Alphabet. Its emerging distinctive use dates back to Middle High German, originally being a typographical flourish or swash character on the Roman "i".

It wasn't until after the 1611 year Bible was published, that the English language officially accepted the shape and sound of the letter "J" as "Jae" and no longer the “Y“ or "Ya" sound. The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between "i" and "J" was published in 1634 (Ref). Its use in the English alphabet followed, the letter "J" was the last of the 26 letters to be added to the English Alphabet. Its emerging distinctive use dates back to Middle High German, originally being a typographical flourish or swash character on the Roman "i".

Pastors have told us that here in America that we DON'T speak HEBREW, and that its NOT important, so we need to STOP or WATCH what we are saying and sharing with people. Pastors SWEAR by the false Latin name Jesus, so humbly ask them this question, "Pastor do YOU speak Latin?" Pastors discourage people studying the scriptures from its true ABaRiY origins, because they have unknowingly vowed to continue the lies and deceptions of the harlot church system. They fear that if you begin validating the scriptures from its pure origins, you will wake up! People waking up to the truth means NO MORE people giving them money to pay for their big house note, nice cars, worldly status, vacations, and their children’s college funds. What people are failing to over stand is that you DON’T need to be a Hebrew scholar or a pastor to understand the scriptures, but having basic knowledge of the ABaRiY culture is key. Knowing how the ABaRiY people used the three original Semitic vowels (a, i and u), what those pure vowels sounds were, what their grammar word rules are, and most importantly, what those words mean. Knowing this information truly helps you see what was really being said in the scriptures. This removes ALL confusion, perceptions, ideological beliefs, translations, points of views or someones truth vs the truth!

If you are Negro / Mexican / Hawaiian / Spanish / Indian or ANY nationality of color ”melanated”, English is NOT your native tongue, NOR was English the first language on the earth. With that FACT in mind, people were NOT speaking English back in ancient times! Take the so called “Indians / Mexicans” for example, they spoke Spanish but did they originally come from Spain? NO, they were conquered by the Spaniards and forced to learn a different tongue! Historical research teaches us that the original black Indians (re-labeled as Negro and Colored) spoke a dialect of ABaRiY / Hebrew. Same goes for the ABaRiY / NEGRO people, in slavery they were forced to forget their native tongue, their ALuWHiYM’s (mighty one or “god” in English) true name YHWH “YaHuWaH”, learn English and adopt the European created pagan religion of Christianity (that was designed to keep people spiritually and mentally enslaved). These are things people need to begin thinking about, and for sure start asking their pastors these types of questions.

FACTS 11, 16 and 17 are taken from the book “103 Amazing Facts About the Black Indian of the Western Hemisphere“ near the bottom of the “Thanksgiving” page on our website.

People are entrusting their souls to pastors (whom they hold in high regard), but the majority of pastors (especially black ones) are unlearned (by choice or unknowingly) and strive for the material things of this world. Do you want to risk putting your soul in the hands of a pastor who DOES NOT care to teach REAL truth? You will only know the truth if you ask the pastor yourself, for your soul is at sake! Pastors have told us,"We don't speak Hebrew here in America, so stop trying to tell people they need to learn Hebrew!", what a shame. This is why church and the pagan religion of Christianity is so deadly. It teaches people to HATE the truth, and to HATE the true name of the Heavenly Father YaHuWaH. People in church and religion have been conditioned to believe the titles “LORD” and “God” are names. If you are Negro or melanated this is especially deadly, Christianity is designed to control and condition Negros to HATE their true heritage, forget who their ALuWHiYM (mighty one) is, and to worship a false created white image with a false name! If you don’t believe us, go and share this truth with anyone in the harlot church system and watch the looks you get!

Here are just a few ABaRiY (aka Hebrew) words people speak on a regular basis here in America (ex: Hallelujah which is "HaLaL YaH", Emmanuel which is "AMaNuWAL", Amen which is "AMaN", Babel which is "BaBaL", Bethal which is "BiYThAL", Samuel which is "ShaMuWAL", Satan which is ShaTaN, etc. ) This goes to show the pure ignorance of the majority of CHRISTIANS (that GAMBLE with their souls) and the pastors that they choose to sit under.

Amen
Amen- H539 - אמן (these Hebrew letters "אמן" transliterated into English consonants is "NMA " or "AMaN")
Phonetic Spelling: ä·mān'
Transliteration: 'aman
Meaning: to support, confirm, be faithful
From: H539

Emmanuel
`Immanuw'el - H6005 - עמנואל - (these Hebrew letters "עמנואל" transliterated into English consonants is "LAWNMA" or "AMaNuWAL")

Phonetic Spelling: im·mä·nü·āl'
Transliteration: Immanuwel
Meaning: "with us is ALuWHiYM"
From עִם (H5973) and אֵל (h510)

Babel
Babel - H894 בבל - (these Hebrew letters "בבל" transliterated into English consonants "LBB" or "BaBaL")

Phonetic Spelling: bä·bel'
Transliteration: Babal
Meaning: "Babel or Babylon = confusion (by mixing)"
From בָּלל (h2101)

Bethel

Bathel - h2008 בית־אל - (these Hebrew letters "בית־אל" transliterated into English consonants "LTYB" or "BiYTh-AL")

Phonetic Spelling: Beyth-'El
Transliteration: bāth·āl'
Meaning: "house of AL"
From (h2004) and (h510)

Hallelujah
Greek - Hallelouia (G239), English - Hallelujah, Hebrew - "HaLaL YaH"
HaLaL - h2984 - הלל (in Hebrew the letters "הלל" transliterated into English consonants"LLH" or "HaLaL")

Phonetic Spelling: (haw-lal')
Transliteration: halal
Meaning: "praise, give glory, to boast, celebrate"

Samuel
Shĕmuw'el - H8050 - שמואל (in Hebrew the letters "שמואל" transliterated into English consonants "LAWMS" or "ShaMuWAL")

Phonetic Spelling: Shamuw'al
Transliteration: Shĕmuw'el
Meaning: "His name is AL" AL (h510) meaning mighty, powerful, strength
From the pass part of שמע (H8085) and אֵל (h510)

Notice the inside cover has the Heavenly Father’s true name יהוה “YaHuWaH”. We are commanded NOT to add or take away from the scriptures, and yet it reads that “his majesty” commanded that this bible be specially translated.

DaBaRiYM 4:2, 12:32, “Deuteronomy” and MaShaL 30:5-6 “Proverbs”

The Geneva Bible published in 1615 came out after the King James Bible, which appeared in 1611 and made other Bibles obsolete because it was better written and had the approval of King James I of England.

Notice that there is NO Letter "J"

William Tyndale's translation was the first English Bible to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts. Later English translations of the bible would use Tyndale's version to translate YaHuWaH's name as JeHoVaH as preferred by English Protestant Reformers. William Tyndale was educated at the University of Oxford and became an instructor at the University of Cambridge, where, in 1521, he fell in with a group of humanist scholars meeting at the White Horse Inn. Tyndale became convinced that the Bible alone should determine the practices and doctrines of the church and that every believer should be able to read the Bible in his own language.

After church authorities in England prevented him from translating the Bible there, he went to Germany in 1524, receiving financial support from wealthy London merchants. His New Testament translation was completed in July 1525 and printed at Cologne then later Catholic authorities suppressed it, at Worms. The first copies reached England in 1526. Tyndale then began work on an Old Testament translation but was captured in Antwerp before it was completed; he was executed at Vilvoorde in 1536.

At the time of his death, several thousand copies of his New Testament had been printed; however, only one intact copy remains today at London’s British Library. The first vernacular English text of any part of the Bible to be so published, Tyndale’s version became the basis for most subsequent English translations, beginning with the King James Version of 1611. We know William Tyndale had the original scriptures in Hebrew but chose to write the pagan title "LORD/God” (in place of YaHuWaH over 6,000) and the false Latin name "Jesus" (as an imposter to the branch of Jesse mentioned in ZaChaRiYaHuW 6:11-13 “Zechariah” and YaShAYaHuW 11:1-16 “Isaiah”) in the English version. This goes to show that William Tyndale was NOT in the truth when he translated the Hebrew scriptures into the English bible.

Notice that there is NO Letter "J"

The name "Jesus", is simply a combination/fabrication of the Aramaic YeShuWA, and Joshua comes from the Greek translation Yĕhowshuwa (YaHuWShuWA) h4091. When the Greeks translated Joshua, they claimed it was IESOUS. Interestingly enough, ALL the letters in the name IESOUS are in the English language and can be pronounced with no problem, so WHY did they need to replace the letter "I" with a “J”, remove the “O” and translate IESOUS further down to Jesus? Please note the similarity between the Greek name IESOUS and the pagan deity name ZEUS.

Judah

Yĕhuwdah - h4063 - יהודה (these Hebrew letters "יהודה" transliterated into English consonants "HDWHY" or "YaHuWDaH")

Phonetic Spelling: yeh·hü·dä'

Transliteration: Yĕhuwdah

Meaning: "praised, the tribe descended from Judah, the territory occupied by the tribe of Judah"

Remember there was NO letter J, and when we add BACK IN the pure Semitic vowels and their sounds to YeHuWDaH, you get YaHuWDaH

Here the Etymology clearly teaches us that in English, words from Hebrew that have a letter "J" where originally represented by the Hebrew character called the "Yod", so the "J" was originally the letter "Y" or Hebrew / ABaRiY “Yad”!

Here we see the Hungarian name Janos, spelled with the letter "J”, but pronounced YaH-nosh. Upon further research, you will find that Janos, goes back to the Greek “John”, which traces further back to its pure Hebrew origins YaHuWChaNaN h4076 which means YaHuWaH has graced. Like we have always said, everything has an origin and no matter how much people want to deny the truth it was ALWAYS there.

English, back to Latin, back to the Greek, then back to its Hebrew origins

Hebrew / Phoenician or Paleo to Greek to Latin then to English

Although Dr. John Berkeley calls on the false name YaHWeH (which was a popular discovery back then), he is dead on the money. The letter J never existed and the savior’s name was NEVER Jesus.

YaHuWShuWA vs JESUS

The scriptures reminds us in YaHuWChaNaN 4:24 (John) that we are to worship in spirit and in TRUTH, and the TRUTH is JESUS was NEVER the saviors true name. Against popular belief the widely accepted European name Jesus is NOT the true name of the melinated man in the scriptures, who gave his life for the opportunity that all mankind may have a chance back to the Father, YaHuWaH in ShaMaH (heaven).

Jesus is Not the Name of the Son!

During our 2019 Truth Fellowship in Scottsdale AZ, ACh (brother) Lawerence beautifully explains that Jesus was NEVER the name of the son!

WOTR does not operate solely on donations, however, if you want to support our ongoing efforts you can do so by using the button below. All donations will go towards maintaining all WOTRs social media platforms to share the established words of the Creator and god of YiSRAL YaHuWaH.

ShaLuWM and AHaB (love)

CONTACT US: [email protected]

#LiveToDieForTheKing #TruthIsNotReligion #WeaponizedLogic

Unlearn, Deprogram and Re-think EVERYTHING you were taught!

Once YaHuWaH’s truth is shared in love with someone the Creator hopes they will make an immediate lifestyle change. If that person TRULY loves the Creator, they will make time to validate all His commands against ANY words of those who contradict HIS (NOT make excuses as to how the Creator’s words go against THEIR lifestyle and biblical/scriptural beliefs).

BaT DaBaR 7:14 “2 Chronicles” Hebrew Bible

14 When my people, who bear MY NAME humble themselves, pray, and seek my favor and TURN from their evil ways; I will hear in my heavenly abode, and FORGIVE their sins, and will heal their land.

MaChiYaHuW 6:8 “Micah”

8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth YaHuWaH require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy ALuWaH?

ZaMaR 119:10-11 “Psalm”

10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Forgotten letters. Too many "and"

Throughout the 16th-19th centuries, the Russian alphabet "dragged along" letters that gradually fell into disuse. You already know what happened to the letter “yat”, what transformation the solid sign, fita and fert underwent (see “Science and Life” Nos. 2, 3, 4, 2018). Next up is the “and” sound. At his disposal were three letters at once: the familiar “and”, which was called the same; known from the Latin alphabet "I" (i) - the so-called "i-decimal" and another letter: "V" - Izhitsa. Each required a different approach.

Science and life // Illustrations

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Let's start with the most mysterious letter "V" (zhitsa or Vzhitsa - that's how its name was written until 1918). She came to the Russian language from Greek and comes from the letter "Y" (upsilon). Izhitsu was used to designate a vowel sound, such as “mѵro”, “snod”, “vostas”. Vzhitsa has a brother - the letter "v", but it is pronounced like "v".

Why do such letter-like letters sound completely different? The fact is that "v" in turn is a "descendant" of the Phoenician letter "Y" (vav, pronounced like ўаў). In countries where they spoke Latin, this sound turned into "w", and in countries with Greek, and then with Slavic languages - into "i".

But, apparently, Vzhitsa still did not forget her brother, with whom she parted. It is no coincidence that Vladimir Ivanovich Dal in the Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language writes about Vzhitsa that she is responsible for “and” and “in”, and gives examples of old Russian names of Greek origin: Vpat (Ipat), Evfimy (Evfimy) and Evdokiya ( Evdokia).

In the alphabet, Vzhitsa occupied the very last place, following the letters "I" and "Vita". In this regard, she was mentioned in many Russian sayings. For example, about someone who studied something from beginning to end, they said: “He knows science“ from Aza to Zhitsa ””. Az was the name of the letter "A", which in those days was the first in the alphabet. When someone only pretended to be an expert and reproached others for ignorance, they spoke of him with a mockery: “Not Aza himself in the eyes, but pokes people with a Vzhitsa.” True, at that time no one could remind the arrogant that "I am the last letter in the alphabet," but the loafers were warned: "Vita, yes Vzhitsa, the whip is coming to the sloth!"

The fate of Vzhitsa was not easy. Peter I, reforming the alphabet, then threw it away, for simplicity, replacing it with "I" and "B", then returned it again. So did his successors. Vzhitsa was canceled in 1735, then returned again in 1758. This was followed again by the abolition in 1799 and the next restoration of rights in 1802, and a few years later -
in 1857 - they were again going to cancel it, but then they changed their anger to mercy. In the end, Vzhitsa disappeared from the Russian language by itself. Spelling reformers 1918 years old, who abolished “yat”, “fita”, as well as “i-decimal”, did not even begin to mention Vzhitsa, deciding that no one uses it anyway. And so it happened. The ghost letter could only be seen as a mark on the "V" series steam locomotives that ran on the railroads from 1931 until the mid-1950s. Well, not the worst ending. We can say that Vzhitsa left famously, with a breeze, accompanied by the sounds of locomotive whistles.

The letter "I", in contrast to the zhytsa, in the historical decree 1918 years still found a place. Probably because she performed a very special task in Russian orthography.

The pedigree of the letter "I" is similar to the pedigree of Vzhitsa. Its ancestor was also the Phoenician letter "yod" (j), which refers to consonants. From it came the Greek letter - "iota" (ι). When the letter "I" was used for counting, it had the value of the number 10. That is why in Russian it was called "i-decimal". The "descendants" of this letter in various versions of the Cyrillic alphabet adapted for different Slavic languages - "I", "J" and "Ї" - reflected different ways of pronouncing the vowel sound "i", the consonant "j" and their combinations. So the letter "I" entered all the languages \u200b\u200bof the Eastern Slavs: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.

The letter "Ї", which also got into the East Slavic alphabets, meant the sound "ji", it is still found in the Ukrainian language (khlїb, dїd, Ukraine). In Russian, she was also present, but quickly fell into disuse, since there were almost no words in it where she could be used.

But the letter "I" remained. It found its own, special, place: it was written in those words where the sound “i” should be pronounced before vowels and before “y”: history, Russian, Jerusalem, and the like.

The letter "I" had one more job. Recall that in the Russian language there are two homonyms for the word "peace": one of them means a state where there is no war, and the other - the world around us, the universe and human society. So, in particular, the rural community was called “peace”, which, gathering at “secular gatherings”, decided matters “with the whole world”, and then arranged feasts “for the whole baptized world”. So, in order to distinguish between these meanings, in the first case they began to write the letter “i”, and in the second “I” (worldly gathering, decide by the whole world).

The title of the famous novel by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy "War and Peace" in publications before 1918 was written in a completely different way than we are used to. On the cover was printed: “War and peace”, that is, not “war and peaceful life”, but “war and society”, which, of course, corresponded to the idea that Tolstoy put into this work.

The winner of the competition of three "and" came out the letter "and". We now know only her. In the 19th century, it was called the eagle (or “and-octal”), since in arithmetic calculations in the old days it replaced the number 8.

Until the 16th century, the letter "i" meant two sounds at once: the vowel "i" and the consonant "j". Later, in order to distinguish between these sounds, where it was necessary to read the “j”, they began to put a “tick” over the “and”. So another well-known letter appeared - “y”. You already know that for three hundred years she was "friends" with the letter "I" and "demanded" to put it in writing in front of her, as well as in front of vowels. For example, the title of the novel by A. S. Pushkin before the revolution was written like this: “Eugene Onigin”.

Spelling reformers 19At the age of 18, they decided to sacrifice "i-decimal": they were sure that the letter "i" would perfectly cope with its duties both before vowels and before й. In other Slavic languages, things turned out differently. Ukrainian left "I" with one and two dots, and in Belarusian "I" completely replaced the familiar "and".

In a word, if they say, “whatever the city is, then the habit, whatever the village, then the custom,” then we can also express it this way: “whatever the language, then your choice, whatever the letter, then your own destiny.”

phonetics - “There is no letter for the sound [j]”

Y is a letter that in Russian writing denoted in different cases two completely heterogeneous sounds.

From the Great Soviet Encyclopedia:

In the Russian writing system, Y denotes a non-syllabic vowel (by no means a consonant Middle language fricative "j", with which it is often inaccurately compared).

Three-volume "Grammar of the Russian language": "In some cases, the letters E, Yo, Yu, Ya denote combinations of the consonant "y" with subsequent vowels", and above this, in a few lines, encounter the distribution of Russian phonemes into 6 vowels and 41 consonants, and in the series of these latter, "i" will also be found.

In some cases, when we meet the letter Y in the words “my”, “your”, “may”, “tea”, it expresses a short non-syllable vowel “y” (sometimes it is called a semivowel), in others - well, say, in the name of the English county of York or the Arab state of Yemen - conveys the undisputed consonant "yot".

There are few such words. There are only 59 of them in the TSB. Six of the geographical names of the USSR (non-Russian), 53 - refer to foreign toponyms or concepts borrowed from foreign languages.

Of all the listed Russian letters Y, in some way "Ivan, who does not remember kinship." There was no letter Y in Cyrillic. It was introduced into use only in 1735. At the same time, until the revolution itself, the letter Y was some kind of semi-recognized sign. Neither V. Dahl's "Explanatory Dictionary" nor Brockhaus and Efron's "Encyclopedic Dictionary", of course, have such a section: "Words starting with the letter Y". At Brockhaus, the name of the Siberian river "Iya" is immediately followed by the letter "K". http://uchitel-slovesnosti.ru/publ/uvlekatelnoe_jazykoznanie/interesno_o_bukvakh/bukva_j/89-1-0-1685

Lopatin fixed the spelling Y after vowels at the end of a word or before consonants (may, elei, cue, swarm, secret, watering can), but he did not delimit the sounds denoted by it. Maybe not to confuse ordinary citizens, non-philologists.

The letter й is written before a vowel only in the following cases:

If the first part of a compound word ends with the letter й, and the second begins with a vowel, for example: district administration, regional election committee, construction industry, construction team, district representative.

And then he writes about iota:

In a limited circle of words of foreign origin, including in proper names, й is written before o at the beginning of a word or after vowels: yogi, yoga, yogurt, iodine, yeoman, Yorkshire (breed of pigs) , iot, iota, iotation; coyote, majolica, mayonnaise, major, marjorate, rayon; in proper names: York, Yorkshire, Yoshkar-Ola, Yorick, Johannes, Jorgen, Yokosuka; Iowa, Wyoming, Villon, Loyola, Ohio, etc.

In some words of foreign origin, the letter y is written before the letters e, u, ya, and, for example: vilayet, doyen, foyer, stayer, conveyor, fireworks, Kikuyu (nationality ), hallelujah, frond, maya, passion fruit, papaya, paranoia, tupaya; sequoia, sequoia, sequoia, sequoia; in proper names: Yemen, Jena, Jensen, Yeats, Yellowstone, Meyerhold, Rambouillet, Heyer-dal, Jöring, Bayer, Jihlava, Maya, Bayard, Vaillant; Goya, Goya, Goya, Goya.

Actually, iot hides in E,Yo,Yu,Ya.

The history of the letter is well described in Wikipedia, read it.