Biblical Hebrew Forum

["yahua'sef" <gs02wmr AT panther.Gsu.EDU>]

SHalom Peter!

On Wed, 28 Apr 1999 peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG wrote:
> I fear that whoever "always taught you" was one of the far too many 
> people out there (especially pastors?) who have learned a little 
> Hebrew and think they know everything when in fact they know almost 
> nothing (the result of taking a typical seminary course?).

Well, I suppose when you're a young kid, you really cannot tell the
difference between right and wrong - and you have no real balance.

> Well, what I have been taught from reliable sources is that the 
> incorrect Anglicised pronunciation of YHWH is JEHOVAH, but YAHWEH is 
> the most likely pronunciation of the original. As far as I know all 
> reconstructions of ancient Hebrew include a "W" sound as the regular 
> sound for the letter waw. The letters originally all reflected 

Yes, you are very correct.

> consonants, not vowels. The "H" found at the end of the name YHWH, but 
> not in the names of prophets (and others) ending in -YAHU, probably 
> indicates a final E or A vowel, and that the waw is a consonant not a 
> vowel - whereas a word final waw generally indicates a long U sound 
> (though it could also be -AW, pronounced like English "how"). The 

This is so interesting for me. Can you recommend any good books or web
sites for me to learn about this?

> final H in YHWH is probably silent, whereas the first H is sounded, 
> and it would be better to write YAHWE rather than YAHWEH (in English 
> we would never try to pronounce a final H, but other languages would). 
> Very few Hebrew words are compounds of two words put together. (The 
> names starting and ending in YAHU are exceptions.) So you should not 
> look to divide YHWH into YAH + WH but rather see it as a single form.

Yes, but does the name "YAH + WH" mean much grammatically? I always found
it more logical, since Hebrew names have numerical values and theological
synonymity with concepts and teachings, that 'YAHU' or 'YAHUWAH' packed
much more meaning than an empty 'YAHWEH.' One means 'Oh he WHo is' and the
other one individualy, means "Be And" or "Exist ANd" or some other
strange definition, since "YAH" in hebrew means "be, exist, is" "WEH" in
modern hebrew means "AND."  Does that make much sense?


shalom