Expert: Gaddy Yaari - 9/23/2009

Question
I am a beginner Hebrew student and I was wondering why names such as Jerusalem, Jacob, Jesus... are translated into English as such when there is no letter in the Hebrew language that makes the J sound.

Thank you for your time.


Answer
Dorothy,

In Hebrew and in Greek these names are spelled with an 'I', but in Latin I at the beginning of a name becomes a J (but it is pronounced as a 'Y' or 'I'.

From Latin these names moved into French, where the J sound was the same as it is today in English; however, the English language kept the Greek spelling (with an 'I') until the 16th century. All of that time, the English spelling for Jesus was Iesu.

In the 16th century, with the preparation of the King James translation of the Bible, it was decided to use the 'J' spelling for Biblical place and personal names;  overnight Iesu became Jesus.

Another example is what happened to the Hebrew name Yohanan: The Romans changed the Y into a J, and dropped the second 'a'. Thus Yohanan became Johann, and it exists in that spelling in German to this day. But when Johann crossed the channel into England, the 'a' and one of the 'n's were dropped, and the name became John. So, Yohanan the Baptist became John the Baptist.

Gaddy