Where does “yah” come from?

yah (English) comes from English You, from Middle English yow, from Old English ēow, from Proto-West Germanic iwwiz, from Proto-Germanic izwiz, from Proto-Germanic *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European túh₂ — you, thou.

yah (English): Yes; An expression uttered to encourage a horse...

Definitions

  1. Yes; An expression uttered to encourage a horse...

Ancestry of “yah”, step by step

yah traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English You

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishYouHonorific alternative letter-case form of you,...
2Middle EnglishyowSecond-person plural object pronoun: you;...
3Old EnglishēowWo!, Alas!; sheep
4Proto-West Germaniciwwiz
5Proto-Germanicizwizaccusative/dative/instrumental of *jūz
6Proto-Germanic*jūz
7Proto-Indo-Europeantúh₂you, thou

via Hebrew יָהּ

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1HebrewיָהּGod; two letters of the Tetragrammaton
2HebrewיהוהYHWH, Yahweh, Jehovah; God; Yahweh
3Proto-Semitic*haway-to be, to become, to fall, to happen
Every word from Proto-Indo-European túh₂