THE LETTER J APPEARING IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

When did the letter J enter the English alphabet?

The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between I and J was published in 1634 ( ef!" Its use in the English alphabet followed# the letter J was the last of the $6 letters to be added to the English %lphabet" Its emerging distincti&e use dates back to 'iddle (igh )erman# originall* being a t*pographical flourish or swash character on the oman i" The Italian+ Gian Giorgio Trissino (14,--1../! was the first to e0plicitl* distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds in 1524 with his 1Trissino2s epistle about the letters recentl* added in the Italian language"1 http:// i!i"ans ers"#$%/&/When'did'the'letter'J'enter'the'English'alphabet

1" The formal distinction between J and I was established in the 1,th 3entur*" http:// i!i"ans ers"#$%/&/When' as'the'letter'('added't$'the'English'alphabet

WI)IPE*IA J (4+d5e+4 or 4+d5a+46 named 7a* or 7*! is the tenth letter in the basic modern 8atin alphabet"

History
J originated as a swash character to end some oman numerals in place of i" % distincti&e usage emerged in 'iddle (igh )erman" )ian )iorgio Trissino (14,-9 1../! was the first to e0plicitl* distinguish I and J as representing separate sounds# in his pistola del Trissino de le lettere nu:&amente aggiunte ne la lingua italiana (1Trissino2s epistle about the letters recentl* added in the Italian language1! of 1524" ;riginall*# both I and J repesented 4i4# 4i+4# and 4746 but omance languages de&eloped new sounds (from former 474 and 4+4! that came to be represented as I and J6 therefore# English J# ac<uired from the =rench J# has a sound &alue <uite different from 474 (which represents the sound in the English word 1yet1!"

Use in English
In English J most commonl* represents the affricate 4d54 (as in jet!" In ;ld English the phoneme 4d54 was represented orthographicall* as cg or c" >nder

the influence of ;ld =rench# which had a similar phoneme deri&ing from 8atin 474# English scribes began to use i (later 7! to represent word-initial 4d54 of ;ld English (for e0ample# iest# later jest!# while using dg elsewhere (for e0ample# hedge!" 8ater man* other uses of i (later 7! were added in loan words from =rench and other languages (e"g" adjoin# junta!" The first English-language book to make a clear distinction between i and J was published in 1 !4" In loanwords such as 7am# 1J1 ma* be pronounced 454 b* some# but not all# speakers" In some such cases# including ra7# Ta7 'ahal and others# the regular 4d54 is actuall* closer to the original sound of the foreign language# making this reali?ation a h*perforeignism" ;ccasionall* J represents other sounds# as in (allelu7ah which is pronounced the same as 1(allelu*ah1 (@ee the (ebrew *ud for more details!" J is used relati&el* infre<uentl* in the English language# though it is more commonl* used than A and B"

Use in other languages

The great ma7orit* of )ermanic languages# such as )erman# Cutch# Icelandic# @wedish# Canish and Dorwegian use J for the palatal appro0imant 474" Dotable e0ceptions are English# @cots and 8u0embourgish" J also represents 474 in %lbanian# and those >ralic# Ealtic and @la&ic languages that use the 8atin alphabet# such as (ungarian# =innish# Estonian# Folish# 3?ech# @lo&ak# 8at&ian and 8ithuanian" @ome languages in these families# such as @erbian# also adopted J into the 3*rillic alphabet for the same purpose" Eecause of this standard# the minuscule letter was chosen to be used in the IF% as the phonetic s*mbol for the sound" In the omance languages J has generall* de&eloped from its original palatal appro0imant &alue in 8atin to some kind of fricati&e" In 3atalan# it has retained a palatal articulation as 4+4# while in =rench# Fortuguese# and omanian it has been fronted to the postal&eolar fricati&e 454 (as in English measure!" In @panish# b* contrast# it has been both de&oiced and backed from an earlier 4+4 to a present-da* 40 G h4# with the actual phonetic reali?ation depending on the speaker2s dialect" In modern standard Italian spelling# onl* 8atin words# proper nouns (such as Jesi# 8eto7anni# Ju&entus etc"! or those of foreign languages ha&e J" >ntil the 1Hth centur*# J was used instead of I in diphthongs# as a replacement for final -ii# and in &owel groups (as in @a&o7a!6 this rule was <uite strict for official writing" J is also used to render 474 in dialect# e"g" omanes<ue a7o for standard aglio (9 4+49! (garlic!" The Italian no&elist 8uigi Firandello used J in &owel groups in his works written in Italian6 he also wrote in his nati&e @icilian language# which still retains the J"

In Eas<ue# the diaphoneme represented b* 7 has a &ariet* of reali?ations according to the regional dialect+ I7# +# +# 5# +# 0J (the last one is t*pical of the @panish Eas<ue 3ountr*!" "#ong non$European languages which ha&e adopted the oman alphabet# J stands for 454 in Turkish# %?erbai7ani and Tatar" J stands for 4d54 in Indonesian# @omali# 'ala*# Igbo# @hona# ;romo and Bulu" It represents a &oiced palatal plosi&e 4+4 in Konkani# Loruba and @wahili" In Kiowa# J stands for a &oiceless al&eolar plosi&e# 4t4" In %hinese &inyin' J stands for (t (' an unaspirated )" The letter J is generall* not used in the modern 3eltic languages# e0cept in loanwords" It is also not used fre<uentl* in the Dati&e %merican languages6 )wich2in# (Mn# Kaska# Tagish# Tlingit# Da&a7o# Dorthern and @outhern Tutchone"

http://en" i!ipedia"$rg/ i!i/J

The History of j
The letter j is rather different to those dis*ussed so far' as it did not e+ist in ,atin and' of *ourse' a great deal of the #edie-al literate tradition is in ,atin. This does need a little e+planation. /ld te+tboo0s on the ,atin language or paleography will infor# you that %lassi*al ,atin had no letter for *onsonantal i. The use of j for this purpose in ,atin te+tboo0s predates #y learning of the language at s*hool' but *ontrary to popular belief that was so#e ti#e after the #edie-al era. 1onetheless' by that ti#e ,atin s*holars had *o#e to the astonishing *on*lusion that if the ,atin alphabet had no *onsonantal i' perhaps the spo0en language a*tually didn2t ha-e one either. "fter all' if the founders of #odern western litera*y had needed a sy#bol for a sound' no doubt they *ould ha-e #anaged to *o#e up with one. ,atin pronun*iation' as taught' was *hanged and the letter j' representing *onsonantal i' as it had been introdu*ed to the language' was no longer pronoun*ed as soft g' but as y. "s a result of this and other pronun*iation *hanges whi*h were introdu*ed' Iulius 3or Julius4 %aesar was no longer pronoun*ed jooleeus see5ar but yuleeus 0i5ar' at least in theory. 6e don2t a*tually 0now e+a*tly how an*ient ,atin was pronoun*ed' as they had no tape re*orders' and who 0nows what *hanges #ight ha-e been wrought through two #illennia of *hur*h ,atin' but inferen*es ha-e been #ade through the s*ansion of ,atin poetry and the li0e. The refor#ed pronun*iation did rather spoil that pie*e of s*hool0id doggerel that began %aesar adsu# ja# forte.

7o basi*ally' it is probably in*orre*t to say that j is e+a*tly the sa#e as i in both an*ient and #edie-al ,atin. 8ore *orre*tly' there was si#ply no su*h letter as j. In Gothi* s*ripts' it be*a#e *o##on to e+tend the se*ond i of a double i below the baseline as an aid to untangling the #ini#s. This loo0s li0e a j' but for all fun*tional purposes' it is a -ariant of i.
This is the word p[er]tinentiis rendered with an extended second i in a 12th century protogothic document hand.

This is the word filiis as written with an extended second i in a late 15th or 16th century German psalter in a Gothic textura boo hand.

The letter ! made its appearance in other languages to ser"e different purposes. #n modern $utch% the combination i! is used to indicate the long i sound% so it is being used as a "owel% as in words li e onin li! . #n fact% ! appears in "arious contexts in $utch% also representing "ariants both on the y and soft g sounds. &s in all "ernacular languages% spelling was not standardised in the medie"al period and a range of "ariants appeared. The word pi!n% as written in a 15th century $utch boo of hours in a Gothic textura script.

#n this word iaer% the letter i rather than ! is used for the y sound% from a different 15th century $utch boo of hours. #n modern $utch the word is !aar. 'ou see what # mean about spelling.

(edie"al $utch and the dialects of German shared a range of spelling indi"idualities. #n modern German% the letter ! is used for the y sound. )ntil this was standardised% other solutions were used. *ome German writing masters+ alphabet samples of the 16th century show no lower case !. #n this late 15th century German language document% the y sound is represented by a y in the word yemands.

#n this early 16th century letter of the emperor (aximilan #% written in a cursi"e document hand% the word !aren is presented with a capitalised form of !.

The only words in #talian beginning with ! are 2,th century modernisms li e !a-- or !et. The soft g is rendered with gi in such words as giusti-ia. #n *panish% ! represents an h sound% but in written form the words may appear closer to their .atin roots than the #talian.

#n this early 16th century carta e!ecutoria in the *panish language% the ! in !usticia is written as a rather elaborate capital.

/rench% of course% uses ! for the "ery soft g sound in such words as !e and !eune. The word !e in a late 10th century /rench document in a cursi"e hand shows ! as a large letter which resembles a capital.

#n a late 15th or early 16th century /rench language boo of hours% the word !e is written with an i for !.

/rench was also spo en and written as a "ernacular in 1ngland% albeit one which was di"erging from the /rench of /rance. This word !ours from a late 10th century /rench language document from 1ngland also uses i for !.

The letter ! is not particularly common in 1nglish. #n late medie"al writings it might ta e the form of a minuscule i or a capital #% in which case words beginning with i were often also adorned with a capital. 2ith a few added flourishes% it de"eloped its own character.

#n the word !ustyse% the letter ! has an extended cur"ed form. This is from a 10th century poem in a cursi"e boo hand.

#n a 15th century "ersion of the 3rut chronicle% written in a cursi"e script% the ! of the word !usts 4meaning !ousts5 has de"eloped large closed loops.

The letter ! can be seen to be a 6ohnny7come7lately of the medie"al alphabet% and had not 8uite established itself by the end of the period we are loo ing at here. #t came to represent different sounds in different "ernacular languages. (ost con"entions of transcription seem to wor along the lines that if it loo s li e an i it is transcribed as an i% and if it loo s li e a ! it is transcribed as a !% but it can be a delicate !udgment 4or is that iudgment95. http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/letters/historyj.htm