字母 ‘J’ 的诞生 | ‘J’ 对语言演变轨迹及宗教词汇语义的影响-CSDN博客

本文链接：https://blog.csdn.net/u013669912/article/details/147127668

注：本文为 "字母 ‘J’ " 相关文章合辑。

机翻，未校。

When Was the Letter J Invented? A Historical Exploration

字母 J 是何时被发明的？一次历史探索

By Happy Sharer

JAN 9, 2023

在这里插入图片描述

Introduction

引言

The letter J is an essential part of the English alphabet, but when was it invented? This article aims to answer this question by exploring the history of the letter J and uncovering the mystery of its invention.

字母 J 是英文字母表中的一个重要组成部分，但它是什么时候被发明的呢？本文旨在通过探索字母 J 的历史来回答这个问题，并揭开其发明的神秘面纱。

A Historical Look at the Invention of the Letter J

字母 J 发明的历史回顾

Tracing the origin of the letter J is no easy task. According to linguist Peter T. Daniels, “the origin of the letter J is obscure.”1 However, scholars have been able to piece together a narrative of the letter J’s development over time.

追溯字母 J 的起源并非易事。根据语言学家彼得·T·丹尼尔斯的说法，“字母 J 的起源模糊不清。”1 然而，学者们已经能够拼凑出字母 J 随时间发展的脉络。

The development of the letter J can be traced back to ancient Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician. In these languages, the letter J was known as the “yodh” or “yudh,” which is derived from the Phoenician word for “hand.”2 The yodh was used to represent the consonant sound “y” in words like “Yahweh” and “Jerusalem.”

字母 J 的发展可以追溯到古代闪米特语，如希伯来语、阿拉姆语和腓尼基语。在这些语言中，字母 J 被称为“yodh”或“yudh”，它源自腓尼基语中表示“手”的词。2 yodh 用于表示像“Yahweh”和“Jerusalem”这样的词中的辅音“y”。

As the Semitic languages spread throughout the Mediterranean region, they were adopted by the Greeks and later the Romans. In the Greek language, the yodh was transliterated as the letter “iota” (ι) and in the Latin language, it was transliterated as the letter “i.” Over time, the letter i developed into the letter J, which was used to represent the consonant sound “j” in words like “Jesus” and “Jupiter.”

随着闪米特语在地中海地区的传播，它们被希腊人采用，后来又被罗马人采用。在希腊语中，yodh 被转写为字母“iota”（ι），在拉丁语中，它被转写为字母“i”。随着时间的推移，字母 i 发展成了字母 J，用于表示像“Jesus”和“Jupiter”这样的词中的辅音“j”。

在这里插入图片描述

Uncovering the Mystery of When the Letter J Was Invented

揭开字母 J 发明之谜

Though the origin of the letter J is unclear, scholars have been able to make some educated guesses about when it was invented. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the letter J first appeared in print in the mid-16th century.3 Prior to this, the letter I had been used to represent both the consonant sound “j” and the vowel sound “i.” The distinction between the two sounds was not made until the introduction of the letter J.

尽管字母 J 的起源尚不清楚，但学者们已经能够对其发明时间做出一些合理的猜测。根据《牛津英语词典》，字母 J 最早在 16 世纪中期出现在印刷品中。3 在此之前，字母 I 一直被用来表示辅音“j”和元音“i”。直到字母 J 的出现，这两种发音才被区分开来。

The invention of the letter J is believed to have been influenced by the rise of printing presses in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The use of movable type enabled printers to produce books more quickly and efficiently than ever before. As the demand for printed materials increased, so too did the need for new letters and symbols to represent the various sounds of the different languages. The letter J was one of these new symbols.

人们认为，字母 J 的发明受到了 15 世纪和 16 世纪欧洲印刷机兴起的影响。活字印刷的使用使印刷商能够比以往更快、更高效地生产书籍。随着对印刷品需求的增加，对新字母和符号的需求也增加，以表示不同语言的各种发音。字母 J 就是这些新符号之一。

在这里插入图片描述

Deciphering the History of the Letter J

解读字母 J 的历史

The invention of the letter J was the result of a long and complex process that began in ancient times. The letter J has its roots in the Semitic languages, where it was known as the “yodh” or “yudh.” From there, the letter J was adopted by the Greeks and later the Romans, who used it to represent the consonant sound “j.” Finally, the letter J was introduced into the English language in the mid-16th century, thanks in part to the rise of printing presses in Europe.

字母 J 的发明是一个始于古代的漫长而复杂的过程的结果。字母 J 的根源在闪米特语中，被称为“yodh”或“yudh”。从那里，字母 J 被希腊人采用，后来又被罗马人采用，他们用它来表示辅音“j”。最后，字母 J 在 16 世纪中期被引入英语，部分得益于欧洲印刷机的兴起。

The ancient origins of the letter J can be seen in its form. The letter J is derived from the Greek letter “iota” (ι), which is believed to have been based on the hieroglyphic symbol for a hand.4 This symbol was used by the ancient Egyptians to represent the consonant sound “j.”

从字母 J 的形式中可以看到它的古老起源。字母 J 源自希腊字母“iota”（ι），它被认为是以象形文字中表示“手”的符号为基础的。4 古埃及人使用这个符号来表示辅音“j”。

The letter J also has its roots in the Latin language. The Latin alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet and included the letter “i” (I). Over time, the letter “i” evolved into the letter “j,” which was used to represent the consonant sound “j.”

字母 J 也有其拉丁语根源。拉丁字母表源自希腊字母表，包含字母“i”（I）。随着时间的推移，字母“i”演变成了字母“j”，用于表示辅音“j”。

Finally, the modern letter J is believed to have been influenced by the Renaissance period in Europe. During this time, artists and writers sought to revive the classical forms of art and literature. This included reviving the ancient Greek and Latin alphabets, which led to the reintroduction of the letter J into the English language.

最后，现代字母 J 被认为受到了欧洲文艺复兴时期的影响。在这个时期，艺术家和作家试图复兴古典艺术和文学形式。这包括复兴古希腊和拉丁字母表，这也导致了字母 J 重新被引入英语。

Conclusion

This article has explored the history and origin of the letter J. It has examined how the letter J came to be, tracing its development throughout the ages from ancient times to the modern day. This exploration reveals that the letter J has a rich and complicated history that is still being uncovered.

本文探讨了字母 J 的历史和起源。它考察了字母 J 的形成，追溯了其从古代到现代的发展历程。这一探索揭示了字母 J 拥有丰富而复杂的历史，仍在被不断发现。

The invention of the letter J is a complex story that begins with the ancient Semitic languages and ends with the modern English alphabet. Through examining the development of the letter J throughout the ages, it is possible to trace its origins back to its ancient roots. By understanding the history of the letter J, we can gain insight into the evolution of the English language and the impact of the Renaissance period on modern writing.

字母 J 的发明是一个复杂的故事，始于古代闪米特语，终于现代英文字母表。通过考察字母 J 在各个时代的演变，可以追溯其古老根源。通过了解字母 J 的历史，我们可以洞察英语的演变以及文艺复兴时期对现代写作的影响。

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

字母 “J” 是何时被发明的？（它是在耶稣之前被发明的吗？）

Writing & Speaking Tips / By Grammarhow

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?

你们中的一些人可能知道，字母 J 是我们字母表中较晚出现的字母之一。但它是什么时候被发明的呢？在它出现之前，语言又是什么样的呢？

When Was The Letter “J” Invented?

字母 “J” 是何时被发明的？

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”.

字母 J 是由一位名叫 “Gian Giorgio Trissino” 的人为意大利语发明的，时间是在 1524 年。它曾被用于罗马数字，但当时这只是书写 I 的另一种方式，并非它自己的字母。在字母 J 出现之前，耶稣的名字被读作 “Yeh-Soos”。

The History Of The Letter J

字母 J 的历史

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.

让我们回顾一下字母 J 的历史，看看它是如何从 I 的另一种书写形式变成它自己的字母的。

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”.

1524 年，意大利人 Gian Giorgio Trissino 是第一个将 J 用作字母的人。这个新字母所发出的声音还有另一种常见的书写方式 “dg”。由于拉丁语和法语对意大利语的影响，字母 J 只不过是书写 “dg” 的另一种方式。

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.

然而，当时，即使在意大利，J 的使用也远非普遍，直到很久以后，它才会变得像今天这样广为人知。他不太可能活得足够长，看到他发明的新字母变得流行起来。

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.

16 世纪后期，一位名叫皮埃尔·拉穆斯的法国人是继他之后又一个将 I 与 J 区分开来的人。当时，今天我们用 J 来拼写的单词，当时是用 I 来拼写的。但这种情况仅存在于少数法国学者之间。

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.

直到 17 世纪，字母 J 才在英语中变得常见。如果你阅读一些较早版本的《钦定版圣经》，你会看到在今天版本的 J 出现的地方，当时用的是 I。

What Was Jesus’ Name Before The Letter J?

在字母 J 出现之前，耶稣的名字是什么？

Did you know that Jesus’ name wasn’t actually Jesus?
你知道吗，耶稣的名字其实并不是耶稣。

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.
他活着的时候，字母 J 还不存在。他的名字是 “Yeshua”。这个名字也是我们得到 “约书亚” 这个名字的来源。

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.
现代英语翻译将约书亚和耶稣作为两个不同的名字使用，是为了将两者区分开来，防止人们将它们混淆。

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.
在字母 J 被发明之前，将希伯来名字 “Yeshua” 翻译成英语会得到 Yesus。在英语历史的大部分时间里，耶稣被称为 Yesus。

Most of the names we give people in the Bible are not their actual names.
我们在圣经中给人们起的大部分名字都不是他们真正的名字。

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

Yahweh 与 Jehovah：上帝的真名是什么？

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.
如果你阅读基督教文献，你会发现上帝通常有两个名字。其中一个叫耶和华，另一个叫雅赫维。上帝似乎有两个名字的原因是他的原始希伯来名字被翻译得不同。

In the Bible, his name is “הֹוָה‎ Yəhōwā,”. When spelt out phonetically, this name sounds like Yahweh.
在圣经中，他的名字是 “הֹוָה‎ Yəhōwā,”。从音译来看，这个名字听起来像雅赫维。

However, if you were to take the letters of his original name, and turn them into Latin letters, his name is closer to Jehovah.
然而，如果你把他的原始名字的字母转换成拉丁字母，他的名字更接近耶和华。

Because the Bible wasn’t written in English, it can be translated in multiple different ways.
因为圣经不是用英语写的，它可以有多种不同的翻译方式。

The Letter J In Roman Numerals

罗马数字中的字母 J

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.
在 J 成为一个字母之前，它是罗马数字中书写 I 的另一种方式。在罗马数字中，他们会用字母 I、X 和 V 来代替数字。

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.
但有时，当不再有 I 出现时，人们会在数字的末尾放一个 J，而不是一个最后的 I。

Therefore XIII and XIIJ were different ways of writing the number 13.
因此，XIII 和 XIIJ 是书写数字 13 的不同方式。

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.
关于为什么一些罗马人会这样做，有两种观点。第一种观点是它看起来更好。但第二种观点是它防止人们在末尾再加一个 I。这有点像你在支票上写 “仅限二十英镑” 一样。

Leftovers From Before The Letter J Was Invented

字母 J 发明之前的遗留

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.
正如我们在文章前面提到的，字母 “dg” 可以发出与字母 J 相同的声音。例如，在诸如 Hedge 和 Edge 这样的单词中。

Because people already had the “dg”, there was not any need for the letter J.
因为人们已经有了 “dg”，所以没有字母 J 的必要。

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.
你通常可以通过一个单词是使用 “dg” 还是 J 来判断它的年龄。较老的单词倾向于使用 “dg”，而较新的单词倾向于使用 J。

Words That Use A Silent J

使用无声 J 的单词

Some words that we use that use the letter J. But it’s not pronounced that way.
有些我们使用的单词使用了字母 J，但它的发音并不是那样。

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.
在诸如 Hallelujah 这样的单词中，J 的发音与 Y 相同。这是因为这个词是在字母 J 被使用之前 发明的。所以尽管拼写随着时间的推移发生了变化，但它的发音仍然与其原始发音相似。

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.
而在诸如 “Jalapeno” 这样的单词中，J 的发音是 H。这是因为它 不是英语单词，它是西班牙语。所以字母的发音规则不会像英语单词那样。

What Is J In The Greek Alphabet?

希腊字母表中的 J 是什么？

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.
我看到有人问的一个问题是 “希腊字母表中的字母 J 是什么？”。而且，正如你们许多人可能能够推断出来的，希腊字母表中没有字母 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.
直到 1524 年才被用作字母。希腊字母表比这古老了几千年。希腊字母表甚至没有 G 的发音。

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.
在古希腊语中，没有单词会发出 J 的声音。就像在英语中一样，没有单词会发出 “ü” 的声音。

Conclusion

结论

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.
关于字母 J，这些就是你应该知道的所有信息。也许你知道它是一个新成员，但对其背后的历史知之甚少。

Or perhaps you were new to the fact that J is a new addition to the English language.
或者也许你刚知道 J 是英语中新增的字母。

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.
想想我们如何发明新字母是很有趣的。也许在未来，“sh”、“ch” 和 “Gr” 这样的发音会拥有自己的字母——只有时间才能告诉我们。

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.
但是，下次你听到有人谈论耶稣、约书亚、耶书亚、雅赫维或耶和华时，你现在会更多地了解这些词的来源，以及不同的翻译是如何改变我们在现代英语中对它们的称呼的。

篇外：讨论

If the letter J is only 400–500 years old, was there a J sound that preceded the design of the letter?

如果字母 J 仅有 400–500 年的历史，那么在其设计之前是否已经存在 J 的发音呢？

I understand that the letter “J” is relatively new — perhaps 400–500 years old. But since there has long been important names that begin with J, such as Jesus, Joshua, Justinian, etc., and which predate the introduction of a special letter, does that mean that the “J” sound predated the letter, or were such famous names spelled and pronounced differently?
我明白字母 “J” 是相对较新的 —— 大约有 400–500 年的历史。但长期以来，有许多以 J 开头的重要名字，如耶稣（Jesus）、约书亚（Joshua）、查士丁尼（Justinian）等，这些名字都早于特殊字母的引入，这是否意味着 “J” 的发音早于字母本身，或者这些著名的名字在拼写和发音上有所不同？

edited Jan 28, 2014 at 23:13

RegDwigнt

asked Jan 28, 2014 at 14:21

Bruce James

Related: this nice overview of the history of Biblical names.
相关：这篇关于圣经名字历史的精彩概述。

– RegDwigнt

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 14:30

Would not this question be better asked on linguistics? Not particular to English, is it?
这个问题是不是更适合在语言学论坛上提问？它并不是特别针对英语的，对吧？

– Aliénor

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 14:41

The “J” glyph is a lot older than that, but it was simply a variant of the “I” glyph, same as we have two different lowercase a’s. As with ‘V’, which could denote either the consonant ‘V’ or the vowel ‘U’, an ‘I’ could denote either the vowel ‘I’ or the consonant ‘J’. The pronunciation of both the vowel and the consonant varied by language, time, and place.
“J” 字符比这更古老，但它只是 “I” 字符的一个变体，就像我们有两种不同的小写 a 一样。就像 “V” 可以表示辅音 “V” 或元音 “U”，“I” 也可以表示元音 “I” 或辅音 “J”。元音和辅音的发音因语言、时间和地点而异。

– Marthaª

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 14:44

@Bruce, your question is related to the Latin alphabet. It is the exact same in Dutch and Norwegian, as well as a host of other languages written in the Latin alphabet during the Middle Ages and later.
@Bruce，你的问题与拉丁字母表有关。在荷兰语和挪威语中，以及在中世纪及以后使用拉丁字母表的许多其他语言中，情况完全相同。

– Janus Bahs Jacquet

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 15:26

@BruceJames, no, it’s not the English alphabet, but the Latin one, which is what English, and Dutch, and Norwegian, and probably 90% of European languages (except Greek and some of the Slavic languages) happen to use. The languages that use this alphabet all make adjustments peculiar to the language at hand, but they all have in common that before semi-modern times, I and J were considered variant forms of the same letter, same as U and V. Context generally determined what value the letter had.
@BruceJames，不，这不是英语字母表，而是拉丁字母表，英语、荷兰语、挪威语以及大约 90% 的欧洲语言（除了希腊语和一些斯拉夫语言）碰巧使用了它。使用这种字母表的语言都会根据具体语言进行调整，但它们都有一个共同点，即在半现代之前，I 和 J 被视为同一个字母的不同形式，就像 U 和 V 一样。上下文通常决定了字母的值。

– JPmiaou

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 15:26

5 Answers

The answer to this is… complicated.
这个问题的答案……很复杂。

The letter J is, as you mentioned, relatively recent, and originated as a variant of the letter I. Why that happens is a little complicated, and requires unpacking some assumptions in your question.
正如你提到的，字母 J 是相对较新的，并且起源于字母 I 的一个变体。为什么会这样有点复杂，需要对你的问题中的一些假设进行剖析。

In the original languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) which provide us with the names Jesus, Joseph, Justinian, etc., the sound which we write as J was pronounced as the English letter Y. (Just to make things confusing for English speakers, the phonetic symbol for this sound is [j].) In Latin, the letter for this was I/i, in Greek it was Ι/ι (iota), and in Hebrew it was י (yod). Thus, the Greek spelling for “Jesus” was Ιησους, pronounced something like “Yeh-SOOS”, and the Latin likewise was Iesus.
在提供给我们耶稣（Jesus）、约瑟夫（Joseph）、查士丁尼（Justinian）等名字的原始语言（拉丁语、希腊语、希伯来语）中，我们写作 J 的发音被读作英语字母 Y。（为了让英语使用者感到困惑，这个发音的音标符号是 [j]。）在拉丁语中，这个发音对应的字母是 I/i，希腊语中是 Ι/ι（iota），希伯来语中是 י（yod）。因此，“耶稣”在希腊语中的拼写是 Ιησους，发音类似于 “Yeh-SOOS”，拉丁语中也是 Iesus。

Subsequently, in the Latin alphabet the letter J was developed as a variant of I, and this distinction was later used to distinguish the consonantal “y” sound [j] from the vocalic “i” sound [i]. However, at about the same time there was a sound change in many of the languages of Western Europe, such that the “y” sound changed into a “j” sound ([dʒ], or sometimes [ʒ]). So we have it that in English, the letter J now represents a consonant [dʒ] which is not obviously similar to the vowel [i], despite the fact that they descend from the same letter and the same sound. (English also has many [dʒ] sounds spelled with J which come from native Germanic roots.)
随后，在拉丁字母表中，字母 J 作为 I 的一个变体被发展出来，这种区分后来被用来区分辅音 “y” 发音 [j] 和元音 “i” 发音 [i]。然而，大约在同一时间，西欧的许多语言中发生了一种发音变化，即 “y” 发音变成了 “j” 发音（[dʒ]，或者有时是 [ʒ]）。因此，我们现在在英语中看到字母 J 代表一个辅音 [dʒ]，这与元音 [i] 并不明显相似，尽管它们都源自同一个字母和同一个发音。（英语中也有许多用 J 拼写的 [dʒ] 发音来自本土日耳曼语根。）

You can see this history worked out differently in the spelling systems of German and many of the Slavic languages of Eastern Europe, where the letter J spells the “y” sound [j], and the letter Y, if used at all, is primarily used as a vowel.
你可以在德语和东欧许多斯拉夫语言的拼写系统中看到这段历史的不同发展，在这些语言中，字母 J 拼写 “y” 发音 [j]，而字母 Y（如果使用的话）主要是作为元音使用。

edited Jan 29, 2014 at 18:04

answered Jan 28, 2014 at 15:23

JSBձոգչ

This is a good explanation. I wondered if going into such detail on an English-usage forum was apt even as I was typing out my answer, but I see that I am not the only one
这是一个很好的解释。我在回答时就在想，在一个英语用法论坛上深入到这种程度是否合适，但我看到我不是唯一一个这样的人

– Å Stuart

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 15:29

Wait, so Indiana Jones and the Final Crusade was being anachronistic by having a J tile?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=XMSK-wq3jlg
等等，所以《印第安纳·琼斯与最后的十字军》中出现 J 字符是不合时宜的吗？y

– Nick T

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 0:28

Subsequently, in the Latin alphabet the letter J was developed as a variant of I. Partly this distinguished the consonantal “y” sound [j] from the vocalic “i” sound [i]. — Not sure I agree with this. When the variant of the letter i appeared that was written like j (both without dots), there was no connection with a distinction of sound. This happened much later and independently.
随后，在拉丁字母表中，字母 J 作为 I 的一个变体被发展出来。这在一定程度上区分了辅音 “y” 发音 [j] 和元音 “i” 发音 [i]。—— 我不太同意这一点。当字母 i 的变体（写成 j，两者都没有点）出现时，与发音的区别并没有联系。这种情况发生在很久之后，并且是独立发生的。

– Cerberus - Reinstate Monica

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 0:41

Just French, really. The francophone influence in England pushed that I believe, when English switched from runes to the Latin alphabet.
只是法语的影响。我相信，当英语从卢恩字母转换为拉丁字母时，法语的影响推动了这一点。

– Ledda

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 4:52

One more thing: in classical Greek, ιη- would be two syllables, i.e. a glottal stop and two separate vowels. (You could say there is a connective /j/ sound audible between the vowels.) When a words starts with a(n) iota in Greek, it was not pronounced /j-/, not even before another vowel. Cf. English iota. It is possible that this changed in later Greek (under Latin influence?), but I am not aware of this. In some cases, post-classical Greek may have used ι- to render the Hebrew yod or the Latin i (/j/); so in such borrowed words ι- was probably pronounced /j/. But not in normal words.
还有一点：在古典希腊语中，ιη- 是两个音节，即一个喉塞音和两个独立的元音。（你可以说在元音之间有一个连接的 /j/ 发音。）当一个希腊单词以 iota 开头时，它并不发音为 /j-/，即使在另一个元音之前也是如此。参见英语中的 iota。在后期希腊语中（可能受到拉丁语的影响），这种情况可能发生了变化，但我并不了解。在某些情况下，后古典希腊语可能使用 ι- 来表示希伯来语的 yod 或拉丁语的 i（/j/）；因此在这些借词中，ι- 可能发音为 /j/。但在普通词汇中并非如此。

– Cerberus - Reinstate Monica

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 19:25

As @Laure mentions, this really belongs to the Linguistics group as this is a wider question pertinent to Latin and all/most Latin-influenced European languages.
正如 @Laure 提到的，这个问题其实属于语言学小组，因为这是一个与拉丁语以及所有/大多数受拉丁语影响的欧洲语言相关的问题。

Classical Latin did not have a distinct J sound (the J as we know in English.) When I was followed by another vowel, it usually sounded similar to English /Y/. Thus we had Iulius which was as if you said /Yulius/ or /Yulyus/.
古典拉丁语并没有一个独特的 J 发音（就像我们在英语中所知道的那样）。当 I 后面跟着另一个元音时，它通常听起来类似于英语中的 /Y/。因此我们有 Iulius，读起来就像 /Yulius/ 或者 /Yulyus/。

In the Middle Ages, a new letter was assigned to this sound - J. However, it can be seen from even a casual glance that there has been widespread confusion of this and related sounds in many Western European languages.
在中世纪，一个新的字母被分配给这个发音 —— J。然而，即使只是随便看看，也可以看出许多西欧语言中对这个以及相关发音存在着广泛的混淆。

In Spanish, for example, the /y/ sound moved to the letter /LL/, whilst the letter J picked up the guttural /ch/ which is due to possible Arabic influence.
例如，在西班牙语中，/y/ 发音转移到了字母 /LL/，而字母 J 则获得了由于可能的阿拉伯语影响而产生的喉音 /ch/。

In English meanwhile, an original prevocalic (i, e) /g/ sound palatalized to /j/ and eventually to /y/. We can see these when we compare Dutch or German cognates.
与此同时，在英语中，最初的前元音（i, e）/g/ 发音颚化为 /j/，最终变成了 /y/。我们可以通过比较荷兰语或德语的同源词来观察到这些变化。

Yesterday（昨天） - Gestern（德语：昨天）

This outline only partially touches upon the question asked, but I hope throws some light on the evolution of the sounds around the letter J in a broader context.
这个概述只是部分涉及了所提的问题，但我希望它能在更广泛的背景下对字母 J 周围的发音演变提供一些启示。

answered Jan 28, 2014 at 15:26

Å Stuart

Just to back-up the Spanish matter. Casillas (e.g. the goalkeeper) is pronounced like kind of like Casiiyas. There is also the famous island of Mallorca. It’s kind of funny because some of the not-so-well-known words are often pronounced (by the non-Spanish speakers, of course) with the classic l like in “letter”, e.g. in my country the dish - paella.
为了支持西班牙语的情况。卡西利亚斯（例如，守门员）的发音有点像卡西亚斯。还有著名的马略卡岛。有点搞笑的是，一些不太知名的词常常被（非西班牙语使用者）用经典的 “l”（像 “letter” 中的发音）来读，比如在我所在的国家，一道菜叫 “paella”。

– luk32

paella [paɪˈelə]
n. （西班牙的）肉菜饭

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 13:43

I think you’ve mixed up your IPA: /j/ is the consonant as in yes; /y/ is the vowel as in German über or French tu (or Ancient Greek MY).
我觉得你把国际音标搞混了：/j/ 是辅音，就像 “yes” 中的发音；/y/ 是元音，就像德语 “über” 或法语 “tu”（或者古希腊语 “MY”）中的发音。

– Cerberus - Reinstate Monica

Commented Feb 5, 2014 at 19:44

The [j] sound (what you write as /y/) did not shift to the letter ll in Spanish—that is [ʎ], which has been simplified in some dialects to [ʝ] or even [j]. The [j] sound is in Spanish, as in English, represented by the letter y, though it has in some dialects now become [ʝ] or [ɟ].
[j] 发音（你写作 /y/）在西班牙语中并没有转移到字母 ll —— 那是 [ʎ]，在一些方言中已经简化为 [ʝ] 或者甚至 [j]。[j] 发音在西班牙语中，和在英语中一样，由字母 y 表示，尽管在一些方言中它已经变成了 [ʝ] 或 [ɟ]。

– Janus Bahs Jacquet

Commented Jul 25, 2015 at 17:03

The quick answer is “yes” to both questions. Before j became differentiated from i, the “J” sound could be spelled with g in various combinations (edge, gem, exaggerate, etc.); and in ancient times, the names you mentioned were pronounced with an initial “Y” sound. Transcribed from Hebrew, Jesus was Yeshua. The Romans would have spelled Justinian “Iustinianus.”
两个问题的快速答案都是 “是”。在 j 与 i 区分开来之前，“J” 发音可以用 g 的各种组合来拼写（edge、gem、exaggerate 等）；在古代，你提到的那些名字都是以 “Y” 发音开头的。从希伯来语转写过来，耶稣是 Yeshua。罗马人会把查士丁尼拼写为 “Iustinianus”。

answered Jan 28, 2014 at 14:39

Gwillim Law

I have a problem with the modern assumption that Jesus translates to Yeshua in Hebrew. The figure of Jesus is introduced to the world in Greek, not Hebrew, so the Hebrew translation might not necessarily be what folks now want to assume. We don’t really know what his name was in Hebrew.
我对现代人假设耶稣在希伯来语中是 Yeshua 这一观点持保留意见。耶稣这一人物是以希腊语而非希伯来语介绍给世人的，因此希伯来语的翻译可能并不像现在人们所假设的那样。我们其实并不清楚他在希伯来语中的名字是什么。

– Bruce James

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 15:10

@BruceJames To begin with, Jesus’ name in his native language was probably Aramaic, not Hebrew (which by Jesus’ time was solely a liturgical language, not a spoken language). That said, I don’t think there’s any real controversy over the fact that Jesus’ name was the Aramaic version of ישוע Yeshua.
@BruceJames 首先，耶稣的名字在他的母语中可能是阿拉姆语，而不是希伯来语（到耶稣的时代，希伯来语只是一种礼拜用语，而不是口语）。话虽如此，我认为耶稣的名字是 Yeshua 的阿拉姆语版本，这一事实并没有什么真正的争议。

– JSBձոգչ

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 15:27

@JSBձոգչ – I disagree. There are opinions that call him Yeshu, e.g. Klausner “Yeshu Ha-Notzri” (1922). Reuben Alcolay explains that Yeshua is really Joshua, whereas Yeshu, in Hebrew and Aramaic, was a name traditionally applied to Jesus. Richard Bauckham’s 2008 review of ancient Israeli ostuaries commented that the name Yeshua was a rare spelling of the name in the days of Jesus and that Yeshu was more common. Yeshua is not applied in Hebrew or Aramaic works to Jesus until Maimonedes in the 12th century. There is no agreement here because there is no Hebrew or Aramaic source from Jesus’ day.
@JSBձոգչ —— 我不同意。有些观点称他为 Yeshu，例如 Klausner 的 “Yeshu Ha-Notzri”（1922 年）。Reuben Alcolay 解释说，Yeshua 其实是约书亚，而 Yeshu 在希伯来语和阿拉姆语中是传统上用于耶稣的名字。Richard Bauckham 在 2008 年对古代以色列骨灰盒的评论中提到，在耶稣的时代，Yeshua 这个名字是一种罕见的拼写方式，而 Yeshu 更为常见。直到 12 世纪的迈蒙尼德斯，希伯来语或阿拉姆语作品中才将 Yeshua 用于耶稣。由于没有耶稣时代的希伯来语或阿拉姆语资料，因此在这个问题上并无定论。

– Bruce James

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 20:10

@Bruce is Yeshu something other than a late variant of Yeshua?
@Bruce Yeshu 是不是 Yeshua 的一个较晚的变体呢？

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 20:28

@JSBձոգչ - it’s complicated. See the Wikipedia article on Yeshu. There are numerous opinions described there.
@JSBձոգչ —— 这很复杂。参见维基百科上关于 Yeshu 的文章。那里描述了许多不同的观点。

– Bruce James

Commented Jan 28, 2014 at 20:51

Just for fun - in Italian there is no “J” letter. The sound of that letter in English is represented by “ge” or “gi” as in Giovanni (“jo von nee” in crude English phonetics). You also see this in “gelato” and it shows up in the English “gelatin” and its shorter form “gel”. See also “gemini”, “gesture”, “gentle”, “gee whiz”, “german”, and lots more.
为了好玩 —— 意大利语中没有 “J” 字母。在英语中那个字母的发音由 “ge” 或 “gi” 来表示，就像在 Giovanni（用粗糙的英语音标来说是 “jo von nee”）中一样。你也可以在 “gelato” 中看到这种用法，它还出现在英语的 “gelatin” 以及它的简短形式 “gel” 中。还可以参考 “gemini”、“gesture”、“gentle”、“gee whiz”、“german” 以及很多其他词。

Who needs a “j”? The ‘g’ in “go” and “gu” are pronounced as in English (“hard” g). For a hard g sound followed by either “e” or “i”, the Italians insert an ‘h’ between the ‘g’ and the following vowel. We use these spellings in English words like 'ghost" and ‘aghast’ (although the ‘h’ would not be used in Italian since the following vowel already makes the “g” hard.
谁还需要一个 “j” 呢？在 “go” 和 “gu” 中的 “g” 发音与英语中的（“硬” g）相同。对于后面跟着 “e” 或 “i” 的 “硬” g 发音，意大利人在 “g” 和后面的元音之间插入一个 “h”。我们在英语单词 “ghost” 和 “aghast” 中使用这种拼写（尽管在意大利语中不会使用 “h”，因为后面的元音已经使 “g” 发 “硬” 音了）。

Along those same lines - in Italian the English sound of “ch” is represented (along with its following vowel as “ci” or “ce”. Similarly to ‘g’, inserting an ‘h’ between a ‘c’ and either ‘e’ or ‘i’ makes the ‘c’ “hard” - as does a following vowel of ‘o’ or ‘u’. And again we use some of this same stuff in English - ‘echo’, ‘charisma’, ‘chimera’, etc. I think most of those words in English come from Greek - just to confuse things - but the idea that a ‘ch’ is pronounced as ‘ck’ (or just “hard c”) is difficult for English speakers to accept until they see the same rule applied in English.
沿着同样的思路 —— 在意大利语中，英语的 “ch” 发音（连同它后面的元音）由 “ci” 或 “ce” 来表示。与 “g” 类似，在 “c” 和 “e” 或 “i” 之间插入一个 “h”，会使 “c” 发 “硬” 音 —— 后面跟着 “o” 或 “u” 的元音也会使 “c” 发 “硬” 音。同样，我们在英语中也使用了一些这样的东西 —— “echo”“charisma”“chimera” 等。我认为英语中的这些词大多来自希腊语 —— 只是为了混淆视听 —— 但 “ch” 发音为 “ck”（或者仅仅是 “硬” c）的想法，直到英语使用者看到同样的规则在英语中被应用之前，是很难被接受的。

Not really an English Language question… but interesting (to me) anyway.
这并不是一个真正关于英语语言的问题……但不管怎样（对我来说）都很有趣。

answered Jan 29, 2014 at 0:50

dascher

I have an Italian friend who jokes that the “J” in Italian is only used for spelling Jeep.
我有一个意大利朋友开玩笑说，意大利语中的 “J” 只用于拼写 Jeep。

– Gabe

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 6:45

It’s very rare, but the letter -J does exist in the Italian alphabet. Don’t forget there’s a football club in Turin called Juventus, contracted to Juve, meaning “youth”. The Italian J has a different pronunciation from ge similar to yu or iu “yu.ven.tus”. List of J words.
虽然非常罕见，但意大利字母表中确实存在字母 -J。别忘了都灵有一支足球俱乐部叫尤文图斯（Juventus），缩写为尤文（Juve），意思是 “青年”。意大利语中的 J 发音与 ge 不同，类似于 yu 或 iu，比如 “yu.ven.tus”。J 单词列表。

– Mari-Lou A

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 8:20

@Mari-LouA it only exists in foreign or foreign-derived words and names (including the latin Juventus/Iuventus - gioventù). It can also be found in some older Italian texts but at the time was still considered a variation of i. In any case, this is mostly academic and off-topic for this question
@Mari-LouA 它只存在于外来或外来衍生的词汇和名称中（包括拉丁语的尤文图斯/Iuventus - gioventù）。它也可以在一些较老的意大利文本中找到，但在当时仍被视为 i 的一种变体。无论如何，这大多是学术性的，与这个问题不太相关

– msam

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 9:11

Yes, you’re absolutely right. All those words are foreign loaned, it’s pretty clear from the link. I just wanted to point out that -J has entered the Italian alphabet, whether it’s taught at primary state schools is a separate matter. (I think not alongside with -K, but I’m not certain.)
是的，你说得完全正确。所有这些词汇都是外来借词，从链接中可以很清楚地看出。我只是想指出，-J 已经进入了意大利字母表，至于它是否在公立小学教授则是另一回事。（我认为它不会和 -K 一起被教授，但我不确定。）

– Mari-Lou A

Commented Jan 29, 2014 at 9:17

There is no J in the Welsh alphabet either, despite the prevalence of Jones as a surname.
尽管琼斯是一个常见的姓氏，但威尔士字母表中也没有 J。

– Mynamite

Commented Aug 31, 2014 at 17:26

I think that this letter has to do with the limitation of the alphabet that was used as the template. For example, the Armenian alphabet created in 405-406 AD, has 36 characters/letters originally and an additional 2 characters/letters were added in the middle ages. The original alphabet contained a character for the both the hard and soft “j” sounds. Also the Georgian alphabet (33 letters created in the 4th century AD) has a character for the hard “j” sound as in January and a character for the softer “j” sound as in a 'zh" as would be found in “Zha Zha Gabor”. Since Georgian is not an Indo-European language while Armenian is an Indo-European language, one can come to the conclusion that the creation of the letter is dependent upon the needs of the language and not the language group.
我认为这个字母与作为模板所使用的字母表的局限性有关。例如，公元 405-406 年创建的亚美尼亚字母表最初有 36 个字符/字母，后来在中世纪又增加了 2 个字符/字母。最初的字母表包含了表示 “硬” j 和 “软” j 发音的字符。此外，格鲁吉亚字母表（公元 4 世纪创建的 33 个字母）也有一个表示像在 “January” 中的 “硬” j 发音的字符，以及一个表示像在 “Zha Zha Gabor” 中的 “zh” 发音的 “软” j 发音的字符。由于格鲁吉亚语不是印欧语系，而亚美尼亚语是印欧语系，人们可以得出结论，字母的创造取决于语言的需求，而不是语系。

answered Jan 29, 2014 at 1:26