From Proto-Indo-European *yē (“already”). Cognate with Latin iam (“already”).
*ja
- yes (confirmation particle)
- thus, so
- Proto-West Germanic: *jā
- Old English: ġēa, iā; ġē
- Old Frisian: jē, gē; jā, jē, jō
- Saterland Frisian: ja, jee
- West Frisian: ja
- Old Saxon: jā, giā; ge, gi, gie, gia
- Middle Low German: ja, jâ
- Old Dutch: jā
- Old High German: jā; joh, ioh
- Middle High German: ja, jā; joch
- Alemannic German: ja, jaa, jòò, jä
- Bavarian:
- Cimbrian: ja
- Viennese: jå
- German: ja (standard); jo, joa (informal); joch (dialectal)
- Luxembourgish: jo
- Yiddish: יאָ (yo)
- Old Norse: já
- Icelandic: já
- Faroese: ja
- Norwegian Nynorsk: ja
- Norwegian Bokmål: ja
- Old Swedish: iā
- Danish: ja, jo
- Gothic: 𐌾𐌰 (ja), 𐌾𐌰𐌹 (jai)