Trade, money & letters

iota

Iota is the Semitic yad, 'hand'; as the smallest Greek letter it became the byword for 'the tiniest bit' — 'not one iota' in English, 'pas un iota' in French, 'ни на йоту' in Russian, 'um kein Jota' in German. The letter name itself lives on as Hebrew yod, Yiddish yud and Arabic yāʾ.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Proto-Semitic to Ugaritic

From Phoenician to Mishnaic Hebrew

From Phoenician to Syriac, Arabic

From Mishnaic Hebrew to Yiddish

From Mishnaic Hebrew to Modern Hebrew

From Koine Greek to Old East Slavic, Russian

From Ancient Greek to Modern Greek

From Late Latin to French

From Late Latin to German

3000 BCEProto-Semitic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.