Etymograph

English

ja

Ja comes from Afrikaans ja ‘yes’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *ja.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ja1‘yes’reconstructed
  2. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*jā1reconstructed
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500ja1
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentja2‘yes’
  5. Afrikaansmodernja2‘yes’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1940ja2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Dutch ja
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English ja
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1940, Penguin Parade: “Ja, he had been fooled and it was not…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*jaWiktionary, Dutch ja‘yes’reconstructed
  2. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*jāWiktionary, Dutch jareconstructed
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500jaWiktionary, Dutch ja
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentjaWiktionary, English ja‘yes’
  5. AfrikaansmodernjaWiktionary, English ja‘yes’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1940jaWiktionary, English ja. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1940, Penguin Parade: “Ja, he had been fooled and it was not…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *ja ‘yes’

if, yo, yea, 1 more

through Dutch ja ‘yes’

ya

Another origin of ja

  1. Koreanmodern자ja
  2. Englishtodayja

Today it means

adv Yes.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ja”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Dutch ja. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *ja / ja

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