Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Peter Kirk wrote:


>If YHWH pronounced Yahweh is like the hiphil imperfect of the root HWH
>(where the final H is a mater for an original Y rather than the real
>voiced H found in roots like GBH "be high"), then what would the
>shortened jussive form of this be? I think it would be YFHW. (yahu).
>(YAH:WEH is shortened to YAH:W: as regularly with final H verbs; but
>then as usual these forms become disyllabic by analogy with segolate
>nouns, so YAH:W: becomes YFHW. with stress on first syllable by analogy
>with &FXW. (saHu) "swimming" for &AX:W:)
>
>This helps in explaining why Yahweh becomes -yahu with penultimate
>stress when used as a suffix and therefore shortened.
>
>Peter Kirk

Dear Peter,

It was not my intention to enter this discussion, but what you wrote above
needs some comment.

As a matter of fact, we *know* next to nothing about the old pronunciation
and meaning of YHWH. It has correctly been stated in this thread that
"Jehovah" is an artificial construction based on the masoretic punctuation,
and that "Yahweh" is late and artificial as well. This does not rule out,
however, that king David, pronounced the name, either close to "Jehovah" or
to "Yahweh". The many names in the Bible beginning with "Jeho/u opt for
something closer to "Jehovah", and the abbreviation "yah" and a similar
ending in many names opt for something closer to "Yahweh". The Elephantine
papyri are open for either YEHU/O or YAHU/O. But the correct pronunciation
we do not know!

I am surprised, however, that nobody has brought Aramaic into the
discussion (or at least an older dialect of Hebrew), because HYH is Hebrew
while HWH is Aramaic. A hiphil form of the Hebrew HYH is not attested, but
if one existed, would it not be YA:HAYE or YAHYE (compare )EHYE in Ex 3:14)
rather than YA:HAWE or YAHWE? In Daniel 5:12 we find a haphel form of HWH
written as YE:HAHA:WE, and an aphel form could have been YAHWE. Jussiv in
Aramaic is expressed by elision of the final N and is, except that, similar
to imperfect. I therefore find your suggestions above about a Hebrew
jussive meaning speculative.

The number of syllables and whether waw is a consonant or a vowel may be
discussed, but as long as we do not know the language/dialect, and the
particular root and its meaning we are groping in the dark.



Regards
Rolf

Rolf Furuli
Lecturer in Semitic languages
University of Oslo