Osmanya Letter Ja

It writes the Somali j sound inside Osmanya words. The sound is like the first consonant in “jam”; in Far Soomaali (“Somali writing”), 𐒃 joins other letters to spell a word.

Osmanya’s alphabet order follows Arabic order, and the name ja echoes the Arabic letter jīm (ج). That link concerns naming and order; 𐒃 is a distinct Osmanya character, not an Arabic letter or a substitute for ج.

Why was Osmanya created?

It was devised as a locally made way to write Somali. After an earlier attempt by Sheikh Uweys to adapt Arabic writing for Somali, Osman Yusuf Kenadid devised Osmanya in 1920–1922.

In 1961, both Latin and Osmanya were accepted for use in Somalia; Latin became the national writing standard in 1973. Borama and Kaddare are other Somali-made scripts developed separately: they were alternatives in the wider choice of writing systems, not ancestors of 𐒃.