*ja

Runic: ᛃᚨ Pronunciation: /ˈjɑ/

particle

Meanings

  1. yes (confirmation particle)
  2. thus, so

Etymology

Ideophonic for paralingual expression of agreement, compare typologically Arabic يَه (yah) developed with the exact same meaning at the Yemenite Red Sea coast.

Descendants

  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *jā (Old Dutch)
      • jâ (Middle Dutch)
        • jao (Limburgish)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *jā (Old Dutch)
      • jâ (Middle Dutch)
        • ja, jae (Dutch)
          • ja (Berbice Creole Dutch)
          • ya (Indonesian)
          • jâ (Jersey Dutch)
          • ya (Malay)
          • ja, ju (Negerhollands)
          • jahái, jaái (Saramaccan)
          • ja (Skepi Creole Dutch)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *jā (Old Dutch)
      • jâ (Middle Dutch)
        • ja, jae (Dutch)
          • ja (Afrikaans)
            • ja (English)
            • iá, yá, ya (Portuguese)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • ġēa, iā, ġē (Old English)
      • ȝea, ye, ya (Middle English)
        • ya, yea, yo (English)
        • ya, yea, ay, aye, yo (Scots)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • jē, gē, jā, jō (Old Frisian)
      • ja, jee (Saterland Frisian)
      • ja (West Frisian)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • jā (Old High German)
      • ja, jā (Middle High German)
        • ja, jaa, jòò, jä (Alemannic German)
        • ? (Bavarian)
        • jo (Luxembourgish)
        • יאָ (yo) (Yiddish)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • jā (Old High German)
      • ja, jā (Middle High German)
        • ja, jo, joa (German)
          • ya (English)
          • jo (Polish)
  • *jā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • jā, giā, ge, gi, gie, gia (Old Saxon)
      • ja, jâ (Middle Low German)
        • ja (German Low German)
  • já (Old Norse)
    • ja, jo (Danish)
    • ja (Faroese)
    • já (Icelandic)
    • ja (Norwegian Bokmål)
    • ja (Norwegian Nynorsk)
  • já (Old Norse)
    • iā (Old Swedish)
      • jaa (Finnish)
      • ja (Swedish)
  • 𐌾𐌰 (ja) (Gothic)
  • 𐌾𐌰𐌹 (jai) (Gothic)

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