Semitic languages
A feature of the ancient Northwest Semitic languages is "w" becoming "y" at the beginning of a word. Thus, in Proto-Semitic and subsequent non-Northwest Semitic languages and dialects, the root letters for a word for "child" were "w-l-d". However, in the ancient Northwest Semitic languages, the word was "y-l-d", with "w-" &gt; "y-".