History and significance of the letter J
The letter J is a consonant and, as the newest addition to the alphabet, one of the least used.
In English, the letter J is followed by a vowel.
English words do not end in the letter J. Words ending in a “dzh” sound are spelled with a g followed by an e to make a soft g or j sound.
edge, forge, fudge, sludge
hadj [Arabic], raj [Hindi]
The letter J was originally used as a variation of the letter I, to create a distinctive ending to lower case Roman numerals, e.g., “xviij” for “18”. Other than that, classical Latin did not have a letter J until Latin scholars started to add them.
In 1524, the letter J began to be used as a distinct letter in Renaissance Italian and Middle High German. In English, too, the letter J became useful as new sounds entered the language, starting in 1634. Before that, for example, “JUSTICE” was written as “IVSTICE”. The vowel I, used as a consonant, came to be expressed as a J.
Other languages have adopted the letter J but pronounce it differently. Some languages, for example, modern Celtic, do not use J except in proper names.
Fun J words
Special reading assignment
- A junction is a crossroad or intersection. A junction box is something else.
- The name of the first month of the year, January, is taken from the Roman Janus, a diety with two faces, one looking forward and the other back.
- The month of June is named after Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter.
- The month of July is named after Roman emperor Julius Caesar (b. 100 BC; d. 44 BC).