Have you ever noticed how uncommon the letter J is at the start of words… (1 Viewer)

[Ahsoka]

But how common it is at the start of names?

Like many aspects of the English language, this can be blamed on the French. The sound we associate with the letter J in English (usually), which represents the dʒ sound in IPA, is actually a comparatively new sound to English. When the French came in 1066, they brought the sound to Britain. However, because of the late arrival of the sound to the English language, the letter J doesn’t appear nearly as much as most English letters do.

However, there is a disproportionate number of names starting with the letter. These names often have either French or Hebrew roots. French because they brought the names and who doesn’t want to be named like the nobility? And biblical Hebrew names often came to English either through French (which had modified the name to have the J sound), or via Latin (which often used the letter J as a constant i in names like Julius, though they didn’t have the French J sound either). While the Romans may not have pronounced those names with a modern English J sound, their spelling often ensured that English speakers would do so in the future.

There are also words where other spellings make that J sound. A common example is bridge. Words like this can very well be of English origin, but they wouldn’t have been pronounced like that until after the sound was brought to English.

 

[Ahsoka]

Language taglist:
@athenarose @LexieBoo @Nyaz @Dreamer_of_Songs @Nina @velvet @ChuuAntics @MyLovelyLove @alo @Chiara @eclipsoul @sick @Moguri @uran

 

[Selfmate]

so what you're saying is it's those bloody French again huh?

like one might say half your threads to do with language should begin with [it's those bloody French again]

 

[ChiaraStar169]

so what you're saying is it's those bloody French again huh?

like one might say half your threads to do with language should begin with [it's those bloody French again]

I used to have a thing against French words as crossword answers. Like, I'll think it's an English word, but when I find out through my error that it's a French word instead that was borrowed into the English language (eclat, for one), I'll be like "URRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH stupid French!" lol

 

[Ahsoka]

so what you're saying is it's those bloody French again huh?

like one might say half your threads to do with language should begin with [it's those bloody French again]

Mostly just the English ones. Though French has meddled in other languages I don’t speak kangaroo though so I’ll have to swap out the intensifier

 

[Ahsoka]

I used to have a thing against French words as crossword answers. Like, I'll think it's an English word, but when I find out through my error that it's a French word instead that was borrowed into the English language (eclat, for one), I'll be like "URRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHH stupid French!" lol

To be fair, around 40% of the words in the English language are French in origin Pickings would start to get slim if you got rid of all of those

 

[Selfmate]

Mostly just the English ones. Though French has meddled in other languages I don’t speak kangaroo though so I’ll have to swap out the intensifier

for us down under people we just blame the English
and the English blame the French
so by the power of transference - I guess we blame the French too???

 

[ChiaraStar169]

Mostly just the English ones. Though French has meddled in other languages I don’t speak kangaroo though so I’ll have to swap out the intensifier

I think you just made this girl laugh herself awake, Vix! I alr couldn't sleep bc my dishwasher is broken (it randomly turns on) and I was afraid it would flood if I left it overnight, but dangggggggggg

 

[ChiaraStar169]

To be fair, around 40% of the words in the English language are French in origin Pickings would start to get slim if you got rid of all of those

true

 

[uran]

those damn french

 

[eclipsoul]

i wouldn't say i noticed it but now that i think about it... i tried to come up with a word starting with J and the only thing i could come up with was my name

 

[Moguri]

To be fair, around 40% of the words in the English language are French in origin Pickings would start to get slim if you got rid of all of those

wow so many, how come we can't easily speak french then

 

[Ahsoka]

wow so many, how come we can't easily speak french then

A few reasons. The pronunciation is a huge one. Lots of words in English that come from French are pronounced very differently in the modern day between both languages. However, if you look at written French, you might recognize more words than you’d expect.

Another reason is that while French origin words are pretty numerous, words of French origin tend to be less commonplace words and many times more specialized (especially in law, education, military, and government). On a daily basis we use Germanic words much much more. Some French origin words are still very common (justice, lieutenant, university, beef) but there are a lot that really aren’t (defenestration, accouterment).

And another important thing is grammar. English borrowed a lot of words from French, but grammar not that much. There are exceptions, like how we sometimes put the adjective after the noun in certain phrases (such as attorney general or court martial). But English is pretty solidly Germanic in terms of grammar. So to speak French properly, you still need to learn a lot of grammar.

 

[Moguri]

A few reasons. The pronunciation is a huge one. Lots of words in English that come from French are pronounced very differently in the modern day between both languages. However, if you look at written French, you might recognize more words than you’d expect.

Another reason is that while French origin words are pretty numerous, words of French origin tend to be less commonplace words and many times more specialized (especially in law, education, military, and government). On a daily basis we use Germanic words much much more. Some French origin words are still very common (justice, lieutenant, university, beef) but there are a lot that really aren’t (defenestration, accouterment).

And another important thing is grammar. English borrowed a lot of words from French, but grammar not that much. There are exceptions, like how we sometimes put the adjective after the noun in certain phrases (such as attorney general or court martial). But English is pretty solidly Germanic in terms of grammar. So to speak French properly, you still need to learn a lot of grammar.

I see... it's true the lanuage has so many words..who knows how many (% wise) are actually commonly used

 

[Ahsoka]

I see... it's true the lanuage has so many words..who knows how many (% wise) are actually commonly used

And you’d also need to consider dialect. For example, “lah” wouldn’t be commonly used in the US, but in Singapore you’d hear it everywhere you go. I did find some interesting statistics, if you combine all the English dialects there are more than 2 billion words in the English language. But in written text, the top 100 most used English words make up about half of all words written in English. And another statistic that actually relates the the original question, 96 of those words come from Old English or Old Norse (both Germanic), while only 4 of the words in the top 100 have Latin roots at all (just, use, people, and because). Despite way more words in the English language having some sort of Latin root than a Germanic one

 

[dark_tranquility]

Fascinating

 

[Harmony_Starz]

i wouldn't say i noticed it but now that i think about it... i tried to come up with a word starting with J and the only thing i could come up with was my name

June, July, Jam, Journal, Jaywalking, Jaybird, Jail, Jasmine, Juke, Jukebox, Juice, Jelly, Jolly

I came up with multiple and then thought the thread didnt make sense but there are a lot of names i also came up with that started with j and then i got it

 

[Ahsoka]

June, July, Jam, Journal, Jaywalking, Jaybird, Jail, Jasmine, Juke, Jukebox, Juice, Jelly, Jolly

I came up with multiple and then thought the thread didnt make sense but there are a lot of names i also came up with that started with j and then i got it

For funsies, here are the origins of those words, at least the part containing J
French, Latin, it’s complicated, French, French, French, French, French, Scottish, Scottish, French, French, French

Definitely a trend, and you didn’t even really pick areas where words of French origin are especially prevalent (government, law, medicine, and higher education). Those are areas that have more words starting with J than usual (judge, jury, justice, joint, jaw, junior, jargon, etc)

 

[sooya_]

I doubt I noticed and it's such a pretty letter y'all