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b-hebrew - Re: Re[3]: YHWH vs. Yahweh

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  • From: GregStffrd AT aol.com
  • To: peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Re[3]: YHWH vs. Yahweh
  • Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 11:21:16 EDT


In a message dated 4/30/99 2:59:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG writes:

<< Origen's teacher Clement of Alexandria already gave us the form
IAOUE for the pronunciation of YHWH - in which I and OU probably
represent the semivowels Y and W not found in Greek. So the
pronunciation "Yahweh" is not late and artificial but a scholarly
reconstruction from evidence such as Clement's, and Theodoret's IABE.
But I accept that we cannot be sure that Clement was not trying to
reproduce something like YAHUWE. >>


Dear Peter:

Is there some reason for taking OU as representing W? If you have a list of
Hebrew names whose W is transliterated into the Greek OU, that would be very
helpful.

Also, I am not so sure IABE supports "Yahweh," at all. It may, but it seems
that in transliterating Hebrew names into Greek the short vowels were often
left out. For example, the name "Jacob" in Hebrew is YaAqov but the Greeks
transliterated it Iakwb. The capital "A" in YaAqov (khatef-patakh)
represents a hurried, short "a" sound as in the English word "car." It is
possible that the IABE of the Samaritans (according to Theodoret) represents
the divine name pointed as YahAveh, pronounced Yah-A-VEH (capitals at the end
of the word represent the emphasis falling on the last syllable).
Theodoret's use of IABE to represent the Samaritan pronunciation of the
divine name may have been due to the fact that the short vowel sound often
went unnoticed in pronunciation. Even in Modern Hebrew one is likely to hear
Yaqov instead of YaAqov, for "Jacob."

But if our only evidence for "Yahweh" is from two Greek forms of the name
which do not tell us for certain how the divine name was pronounced in
Hebrew, then how is it that that evidence has been allowed to override the
evidence from the Hebrew Bible itself, regarding the theophoric elements in
compound names, as previously articulated?

Regards,

Greg Stafford






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