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No - in its original form Hebrew did not have a J sound (as in Jay).
However, in modern Hebrew the ג (Gimmel - third letter of the Hebrew alphabet) is used with an apostrophe to change it from G "as in Give" to J as in "Jay". This is a linguistic invention to allow transliteration from other languages.
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SteveAnswer 1
It wasn't.
In Hebrew, God's name is "YHVH" (often mistakenly translated as "Yahweh" or "Jehovah", as Hebrew had no vowels).
"Jehovah" results from a misunderstanding that Early Christians had about a certain Jewish custom of inserting the vowels from a different word into YHVH. Jews took the vowels from the Hebrew word for "Lord", and inserted them into YHVH to remind the reader to pronounce the word as "Lord". To this day Jews pronounce the world for "Lord" when they see these four letters occur during prayer.
Early Christians did first started learning Hebrew in the 12th Century CE and did not know of this Jewish custom. They saw this printed form of God's name as complete.
The J comes from Early Modern http://english.answers.com via Latin. In Latin, J and I are the same letter, and they used I to represent the first consonant of the name.
W is an ancient theoretical pronunciation of the letter Vav, which is pronounced V today.
There are many theories as to what the missing vowels were, but it is probable that no one will ever know.
Answer 2
The Creator has one true name which is represented by the letters YHVH in English. The Hebrew letters are "yud, hei, vav, hei". These four letters are referred to as the tetragrammaton and are an contraction of the Hebrew words for, "was, is, and will be". His true name was only said in the Temple and with the Temple's destruction we lost the correct pronunciation.
In the Tanach (Jewish Bible), there are 72 different 'names' used for The Creator, these aren't actual names though, they're descriptions of Him that are contextual. In daily conversation, most Jews the name 'HaShem' which literally translates to 'The Name' in reference to His true name.
The words Yahweh, Jehovah, and any variation are Christian in origin and have never been used by Jews. (There is no 'J' or 'W' in the Hebrew language.)
Answer 3
Aside from the issues of translating the tetragrammaton into English, which Answers 1 & 2 discuss well, it is quite common to translate names starting with a "y" (yod) to beginning with a "J" in English. Examples include: Yaqob -> Jacob, Yehoshua --> Joshua, Yehonatan --> Jonathan, Yael --> Jael, Yerav'am --> Jeroboam, etc. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is a "J" in Jehovah.
No. There was no J in the Hebrew alphabet, although the modern Hebrew alphabet does have a way of representing the English "J" sound, but this form was invented in the 20th Century.
The "J" names in The Bible, such as "Jacob", "Joseph", Judah", "Josiah", etc. derive from Hebrew words that start with the letter "Y". The "Y" slowly changed to a "J" due to Latin spelling conventions.
Answer:
It is interesting to note that the letter J was the last of the 26 to enter the English language. It has been part of English only for the last 600 years. As you may be aware, there are many ways to pronounce the letter J, from the usual (as in "jaybird"), to the soft (as in the French "je"), to the "Y" (as in the Polish "jutro"), to the Spanish (as in "jefe").
In Hebrew, there is more than one way to pronounce the letter Yud. When it has a dot in it, its pronunciation is harder than a Y sound, and is close to a J sound.
No, Hebrew uses a completely different alphabet than English. None of the 26 letters of the English alphabet exist in Hebrew.
But if you are asking if the Hebrew language has a J sound, then the answer is that only Modern Hebrew has this sound, which was invented around the early 1900's to use in foreign words and names.
No, there is no J in the Hebrew language, except in Modern Hebrew. Also, the word Jehovah is not a real Hebrew word. It's a Christian version of the four consonants that form God's name. The consonants are יהוה (YHVH) and the vowels are unknown.
Furthermore, the word Jehovah originated in Europe, where it was pronounced with a Y sound.
In Modern Hebrew, there is a J sound, but it's only used for foreign words, such as:
Jirafa (ג׳ירפה) = giraffe
Joongel (ג׳ונגל) = jungle
No, there is no native J-sound in Hebrew. But Modern Hebrew uses ג׳ to represent the J sound in foreign words.
Words borrowed from Hebrew that begin with J usually begin with Y (י) in Hebrew, such as
Jerusalem = Yerushalayim (ירושלים)
Joshua = Yehoshua (יהושוע)
Jeremiah = Yirmeyahu (ירמיהו)
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How is Jehovah usually translated in the old testament?
In most English translations of the Old Testament, Jehovah is translated as "LORD" with all capital letters to distinguish it as a substitute for the Hebrew name for God, YHWH. This tradition originated from the practice of avoiding vocalizing the sacred name of God.
Why is Jehovah not God's name if Jesus' name means literally that Jehovah is your Savior?
AnswerThe 'J Source', one of the sources credited with writing the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers), used the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, when referring to God, although the Elohist Source used the specific name 'Elohim, and other names were used by other sources. Hebrew scholars believe that YHWH was pronounced 'Yahweh, there being no letter J in the Hebrew language. Conversely, there is no letter Y in the German language, so when German scholars began studying the Bible in the nineteenth century, they translated YHWH into German as Jehovah. The German word has entered the Englsih language, but an ancient Hebrew would never have recognised "Jehovah" and would probably have had difficulty in saying it. For them, Jehovah was not God's name.Jesus, which is a Greek translation of Joshua (Yeheshua, in Hebrew) of course really means "Yahweh saves".
What does jole mean in Hebrew?
The name Jolie is French in origin, meaning 'pretty', it is not a Hebrew name or word. Note: The Hebrew language does not have a letter equivalent to the letter 'J'.
What does the Hebrew word Jireh mean?
Jireh is not a Hebrew word. There no J in Hebrew.
What Hebrew word starts with I and ends in J?
There is no J in the Hebrew language, except in modern, borrowed words.
Is it true that Jesus name is not Jesus as there is no J in the Hebrew alphabet?
The name "Jesus" is an anglicized version of the Greek name "Iesous," which itself is a transliteration of the Hebrew name "Yeshua" or "Yehoshua." The Hebrew alphabet does not have a letter for "J," but Jesus' name has been commonly rendered as "Jesus" in English translations of the Bible.
What has the author M J Chayen written?
M. J. Chayen has written: 'Introduction to Hebrew transformational grammar' -- subject(s): Generative grammar, Hebrew language
How do you say Jehovah in sign language?
In American Sign Language (ASL), the sign for "Jehovah" involves signing the letter "J", drawing a small circle in front of the body, then signing the letter "W". This sign represents the name "Jehovah" in ASL. You can find video demonstrations of this sign online for reference.
What has the author Edward J Tubbs written?
Edward J. Tubbs has written: 'Visual Arabic grammar-lexicon' -- subject- s -: Arabic language, Grammar 'The visual Hebrew grammar lexicon' -- subject- s -: Grammar, Hebrew language
Does Jehovah mean Jesus Christ in Hebrew?
AnswerNo. Jehovah is the German translation of the Hebrew word, Yahweh (or YHWH). This is the name for God, used in Genesis by the anonymous author now known as Yahwist or 'J' source .
How do you write in Hebrew Jehovah Shalom?
This is a Christianized version of the Hebrew phrase Adonai Shalom (יהוה־שלום).Note: There's actually no such Hebrew word as the J word mentioned in this question. In Hebrew, the 4 consonants of God's name aren't pronounced like that, and they are also never pronounced out loud in any form, other than substituting another word for them.
How do you write J in Hebrew?
The sound of 'J' doesn't exist in the Hebrew language, and there is no single character that can produce its sound. In modern times, when foreign words that contain the 'J' sound are to be rendered in Hebrew, a combination of characters is used, frequently the characters for the sounds "DZ".
