Yodh (also spelled jodh, yod, or jod) is the tenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician yōd 𐤉, Hebrew yud י, Aramaic yod 𐡉, Syriac yōḏ ܝ, and Arabic yāʾ ي. Its sound value is in all languages for which it is used; in many languages, it also serves as a long vowel, representing .
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Iota (Ι), Latin I and J, Cyrillic І, Coptic (Ⲓ) and Gothic eis .
The term yod is often used to refer to the speech sound , a palatal approximant, even in discussions of languages not written in Semitic abjads, as in phonological phenomena such as English "yod-dropping".
Origins
Yod originated from a hieroglyphic "hand", or *yad.
Hebrew Yod
Hebrew spelling: ;Fileformat.info colloquial
The letter appears with or without a hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans: י Tahoma, Alef, Heebo: י
Pronunciation
In both Biblical and Modern Hebrew, Yod represents a palatal approximant (). As a mater lectionis, it represents the vowel . At the end of words with a vowel or when it is marked with a sh'va nach, it represents the formation of a diphthong, such as , , or .
Significance
In gematria, Yod represents the number ten.
As a prefix, it designates the third person singular (or plural, with a Vav as a suffix) in the future tense.
As a suffix, it indicates first person singular possessive; av (father) becomes avi (my father).
"Yod" in Hebrew signifies iodine. Iodine is also called يود yod in Arabic.
In religion
Two Yods in a row designate the name of God Adonai and in pointed texts are written with the vowels of Adonai, which is done as well with the Tetragrammaton.
As Yod is the smallest letter, much kabbalistic and mystical significance is attached to it. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus mentioned it during the Antithesis of the Law, when he says: "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Jot, or iota, refers to the letter Yod; it was often overlooked by scribes because of its size and position as a mater lectionis. In Modern Hebrew, the phrase "tip of the Yod" refers to a small and insignificant thing, and someone who "worries about the tip of a Yod" is someone who is picky and meticulous about small details.
Much kabbalistic and mystical significance is also attached to it because of its gematria value as ten, which is an important number in Judaism, and its place in the name of God.
Yiddish
In Yiddish, the letter yod is used for several orthographic purposes in native words: Alone, a single yod י may represent the vowel or the consonant . When adjacent to another vowel, or another yod, may be distinguished from by the addition of a dot below. Thus the word Yidish 'Yiddish' is spelled ייִדיש. The first yod represents []; the second yod represents [] and is distinguished from the adjacent [] by a dot; the third yod represents [] as well, but no dot is necessary. The digraph יי, consisting of two yods, represents the diphthong []. A pair of yods with a horizontal line (pasekh) under them, ײַ, represents the diphthong [] in standard Yiddish. The digraph consisting of a vov followed by a yod, וי, represents the diphthong [].
In traditional as well as in YIVO orthography, Loanwords from Hebrew or Aramaic in Yiddish are spelled as they are in their language of origin. In Soviet orthography, they are written phonetically like other Yiddish words.
Arabic Yāʼ
The letter is named (). It is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
It is pronounced in four ways: As a consonant, it is pronounced as a palatal approximant , typically at the beginnings of words in front of short or long vowels. A long usually in the middle or end of words. In this case it has no diacritic, but could be marked with a kasra in the preceding letter in some traditions. A long In many dialects, as a result of the monophthongization that the diphthong underwent in most words. A part of a diphthong, . Then, it has no diacritic but could be marked with a sukun in some traditions. The preceding consonant could have no diacritic or have sign, hinting to the first vowel in the diphthong, i.e. .
As a vowel, yāʾ can serve as the "seat" of the hamza: