[b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation
Peter Kirk
peterkirk at qaya.org
Sun Jul 24 19:16:28 EDT 2005
On 23/07/2005 15:48, Uri Hurwitz wrote:
> In addition to the well known attestation of YHWH, in Mesha, late
> ninth century, the name is fully written out in several pre-exilic
> inscriptions: in Kuntillat Ajrud, c. end ninth- early eighth century
> ; in the Arad ostraca, e.g no. 18, late eighth century; in the
> Lakhish letters, e.g. no. 2, during the the war mentioned in Jer.
> 34: 7, that is c.586 BCE. There are other pre-exilic examples.
>
Thank you, Uri and also Bryan. So, it seems that the final he on the
Mesha stele does not predate the first use of he as a mater lectionis.
And it seems that none of these other examples are significantly older
than than that stele. So, unless someone can provide such an example, I
think we can safely conclude that the final he may very well have been a
mater lectionis, and so silent.
It is interesting that a spelling YHW on a very early inscription,
predating matres lectionis, is likely to be evidence for a pronunciation
like Yahwe or Yehowa, whereas the same spelling in a later inscription
would probably be intended to be pronounced Yahu or Yaho.
--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/
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