Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Rolf Furuli wrote:

> [...] 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.

Perhaps this is a clue to the geographical origin of the deity? Would it 
support some of the claims
that YHWH was originally a Midianite deity, or a deity from the region of 
Northern Arabia? Or,
would it confine the origin to the more northerly Aramean regions?

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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