Where does “ja” come from?

ja (Norwegian Bokmål) comes from Old Norse já, from Proto-Germanic ja, from Proto-Indo-European yē — already.

ja (Norwegian Bokmål): yes

Definitions

  1. yes

Ancestry of “ja”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Norsejáyes
2Proto-Germanicjayes; thus, so
3Proto-Indo-Europeanyēalready
Every word from Proto-Indo-European yē →Every word from Proto-Germanic ja →Every word from Old Norse já →