Is it true that Hebrew never had a "J" sound?

Question

Also why do people think that a "Y" sound in Hebrew should be pronounced with a "J" sound in English like Jerusalem, Joseph and Joshua. So in Hebrew is it pronounced Yerusalem?

Answer 1

It is true that there is no "J" sound in Hebrew, though it is not difficult to trace and understand the phonetic changes by which the original consonantal "I/Y"-sound came to be pronounced as it now is in English. (more on that below)

I also doubt people who have given any thought to it actually think that the J, as pronounced in modern English, represents the Hebrew sound used in these words. Those who know any Hebrew at all (including many who know almost none!) understand that the names you list were pronounced, in Hebrew with a consonantal "Y" sound.

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I think your underlying question is, "Is it PROPER for us to pronounce these names (e.g., Jerusalem and Jesus) as we do?"

My answer: Yes, for two basic reasons -- two processes common to human language.

1) how names are adapted ("Anglicized") when translated

2) how sounds within any living language change over time


1) As part of TRANSLATION, we ANGLICIZE names that we borrow into English -- a very ordinary sort of practice between any two langauges.

When we speak these names are NOT claiming that this is "how the ancient Hebrews pronounced it" . And we are NOT speaking biblical Hebrew, but English. These are ANGLICIZED forms, and that is what we typically use when we bring foreign names into English. So, for instance, we pronounce "Paris" like an English word, including the final s-sound, NOT the way the French do [Paree, with a rather different /r/ sound from English]. Nor do we call the German city "Muenchen" [with a u-umlaut sound that does not EXIST in English, as well as a "harsh" /ch/ sound like that in Scottish "loch" that is likewise not native to English]. Rather we say "Munich" [Myoo'-nik].

So, when we bring a name (or directly borrow ANY word) from a foreign language, we adapt it to the sounds and sound patterns of our own language. Note that all this happens in part because some of the sounds and sound-patterns of the original language are unusual or even unpronounceable to those in the 'receptor' language. So we HAVE to change it.

In fact, the more important the name is, and the more those in another culture use it, the more likely it is to be pronounced in a distinctive way that fits in with the patterns of the "receptor" language, rather than the original language.

When it comes down to it, we seldom pronounce foreign names precisely the way speakers of those languages do (or did), and the more distant or unusual that language and its sounds, the more different the translated name will sound.

2) normal HISTORICAL changes -- pronounciation of words, and of particular letters CHANGES over time.

This is just a normal part of what happens with LIVING languages --ALL of them. (English, as a Germanic language heavily influeneced by a Romance language [Norman French] has perhaps experienced more radical changes than many others -- in grammatical forms, in vocabulary and in pronunciation.)

Hence, we do not even pronounce older ENGLISH words or names the way they were 'originally' pronounced. In fact, the same goes for HEBREW. There are certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet that are almost certainly pronounced differently by those reading biblical Hebrew or speaking modern Hebrew today (and scholars often debate about precisely how those letters were formerly pronounced -- there's a famous OT passage based on the different pronunciation of a word sibboleth OR shibboleth... only we are not quite sure how the two groups pronounced those two s-sounds). For that matter, some of these pronunciations changed between the time of Moses and David, David and the exile, the exile and the time of Christ... that is not even to mention the different regional accents/dialects of the ancient language (which again are reflected by the "shibboleth" incident).

Also note that when a name is INDIRECTLY borrowed (as is the case with many Hebrew names that came first through the Greek of the New Testament) there may be even MORE of these changes, each language changing the sounds a bit to accomodate its own needs.

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So, about the "J"-sound.

First note that the LETTER "J" was invented as a variant of "i" and used to mark where that letter was used for a CONSONANT (as opposed to the vowel "i"). Other Germanic languages still pronounce it the way we do the "Y" in "you". (The Latin letter "i" came from Greek "iota", which was borrowed from Phoenician "yod", the equivalent of the Hebrew letter used in all these words.)

As for OUR pronounciation -- well, blame it on the French! Though modern English "J" is slightly different from the French "J" that's where it comes from. (Think of the J in "Jacque", not our "Jack" --we add a "d" at the beginning. In case that's not clear, it's the sound or the s/z in "Asian" and "azure" [phonetic spelling often writes it as /zh/ -- like /sh/, except it is "voiced", just as /z/ is the voiced version of /s/.)

To understand how this sound could shift -- note how "Did you?" in English can easily end up sounding like "Did-jew". This is caused by moving the position of the tongue for "y" back and tighter to the roof of your mouth (the palate). It is a fairly common occurrence when certain sounds are spoken together -- linguists call it "palatalization".

Incidentally, this change did not just happen in French (thence to English). It started in Late Latin, and is reflected in Italian names starting with "Gi" --that same /zh/-sound. ("Giacamo" is the equivalent of our "James")

Answer 2

Actually, you got it mixed up! In English it's J instead of Y-the Hebrew came first!!! =P The "J" sound is not in the Hebrew alphabet, but you would use the "g" with a " ' " after it...

Answer 3

yes there is a "j" sound most dont use it
the charcters is the gimmel
usually a g sound
but with a dot in it it is pronounced jimmel
a "j" !
ps lots of hebrew letters can have more than one sound to it
the second letter a bet or beis is a "v" sound or a "b" sound
lots more

Answer 4

Yes, that is correct. Making the J a Y is just Anglicizing the language. Those names would be pronounced with a "y" sound.

Answer 5

you're right! The word Yankee was derived from the Hebrew word "Junk" meaning rubbish, garbage.

Answer 6

No that is not true. today, you don't have a "j" in hebrew. you use "g" (ג) with a (') instad. that way you can use in hebrew words that came from other lang' like "jihad" (from arabic) or jazz....

Answer 7

Yup.
In Hebrew, its "Yerushalayim"