The letter J is only about 500 years old
Yes — that’s true. The letter “J” is a relatively new letter in the English alphabet, and it’s only been in widespread use for about 400 to 500 years.
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Origin of the Letter “J”
• The letter “J” did not exist in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin — the languages in which the Bible was originally written.
• Originally, “I” and “J” were the same letter in Latin. The “J” shape began as a fancy flourish on the letter “I.”
• Around the 1500s, scholars like Gian Giorgio Trissino (an Italian grammarian) began to differentiate between vowel “I” and consonant “J”.
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The Name “Jesus” Did Not Exist in Biblical Times
• The Messiah’s original Hebrew name is Yahshua or Yehoshua — meaning “Yah is salvation.”
• The name “Jesus” is an English transliteration that came centuries after the Messiah walked the earth.
• The Greek version is Iēsous, and Latin kept it as Iesus — no “J” existed.
So when people in biblical times called on the Messiah, they did not say “Jesus.” That name did not exist yet.
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Timeline Overview
• Pre-1500s: “J” didn’t exist; names like Jacob, John, and Jesus were spelled with “I” (e.g., Iacobus, Ioannes, Iesus).
• 1500s–1600s: “J” began to be used as a distinct letter in European languages.
• 1611 King James Bible: Still used “Iesus” — not “Jesus”
• Later editions: “Jesus” spelling became standard.
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Why This Matters
• It reveals how names were changed or altered over time, often due to language shifts and colonization.
• It supports the movement to return to the true names: YAH, Yahshua, Yisrael, etc.
Zephaniah 3:9 – “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of YAHWEH…”