All November I'll be blogging about the alphabet and word origins.
J, j Originally a variant style of I, J did not appear as a letter in its own right until 6th Century Spain where it was pronounced as /h/ as in junto. In England, adoption was spotty and uneven; in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755) Johnson omits both J and V, leaving a twenty-four letter alphabet. Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) includes all twenty-six letters, but on the other side of the Atlantic, the twenty-four letter alphabet still had prominent defenders until the middle of the 19th century.Jehovah: One of the variant pronunciations, along with Yahweh, of the tetragrammaton, (יהוה) the ineffable name of God. Perhaps deliberately so, the word’s etymology is as obscure as its pronunciation. Possibly derived from a Western Semitic root meaning “to bring into existence,” but with equal likelihood coming from a Southern Semitic root, “to destroy or bring low.” Some scholars argue it means simply “to be,” an explanation supported by God’s impatient retort when asked his name by Moses, “I AM THAT I AM… Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” (Exodus 3:14)
Jupiter: The greatest Roman god takes his name from the Greek god Zeus and the epithet, “father,” as in “Father of the Gods,” or “Father of Earth.” Zeus + pater → zeupater → Jupiter
Coming November 30th, the RETURN OF THE STOOPID CONTEST!
