Jot

The story of the word

The word is a Greek letter name worn down by Latin and English mouths. It reaches ordinary speech through Matthew 5:18, where not one iota or one κεραία, one little hook, will pass from the law, and Tyndale's jot and tittle carried it into English. Iota was itself borrowed into Greek from Semitic yod, which is likewise the smallest letter in its own alphabet, so the joke works in both languages. The verb, to jot down, came later from the noun.

How it travelled

Semitic → Ancient Greek → Latin → English

First recorded

16th century