Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gregory and Carol Yeager <cgyeager AT mwci.net>]

Yahua'sef wrote:

>  Even if someone did not
> want to go into the phonetics of it all, YAHWEH literally does not make
> sense. "YAH" in hebrew means "be, exist, is" "WEH" in modern hebrew means
> "AND".> So if you read YAHWEH (hebrew like arabic and aramaic is read from
> right to left) it would give you the meaning "AND IS, AND EXIST, or AND
> BE."

All I know is your logic is incoherent.  Yah is the first phoneme, Weh
is the second, wether you read it right or left.  So your "and" particle
comes second, after the "Yah" particle.  

As for the Waw, I always wondered what it was about waw that makes it a
matres lectionis for both U and O.  My mouth sort of forms the same
shape for both, but that doesn't help me with a consonantal idea.  Was
it a liquid consonant?  I suppose so, but I havne't heard what experts
think.  Maybe someone would chime in.

Pax et bonum vobiscum
Greg Yeager
Dubuque Iowa