Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/ja

This Proto-Germanic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

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

• *jai

• IPA^(key): /jɑ/

*ja

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

• *jai
• *jabai
• *jahw, *jah

• Proto-West Germanic: *jā
  • Old English: ġēa, iā; ġē
    • Middle English: ȝea, ye, ya
      • Scots: ya, yea, ay, aye, yo
      • English: ya, yea, yo
  • Old Frisian: jē, gē; jā, jē, jō
    • Saterland Frisian: ja, jee
    • West Frisian: ja
  • Old Saxon: jā, giā; ge, gi, gie, gia
    • Middle Low German: ja, jâ
      • German Low German: ja
  • Old Dutch: jā
    • Middle Dutch: jâ
      • Dutch: ja
        • Afrikaans: ja
      • Limburgish: jao
  • Old High German: jā
    • Middle High German: ja, jā
      • Alemannic German: ja, jaa, jòò, jä
      • Bavarian:

        Cimbrian: ja

        Viennese: jå

      • German: ja (standard); jo, joa (informal)
        • → English: ya
        • → Polish: jo
      • Luxembourgish: jo
      • Yiddish: יאָ (yo)
• Old Norse: já
  • Icelandic: já
  • Faroese: ja
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ja
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ja
  • Old Swedish: iā
    • Swedish: ja
    • → Finnish: jaa
  • Danish: ja, jo
• Gothic: 𐌾𐌰 (ja), 𐌾𐌰𐌹 (jai)