Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Interesting question. I looked through all the Hebrew names which are 
traditionally rendered in English with a V or W (not very many). I 
found that in many cases where in Hebrew the waw is syllable-initial 
it is transliterated in LXX with OU, occasionally with O, U or W 
(omega), and sometimes there is no letter reflecting the waw. But the 
nearest to a rule which one can find is that syllable-initial waw is 
transliterated OU.

The closest equivalent to YHWH in the list is the first one, Hebrew 
)AH:AWF), which is transliterated as AOUE in LXX. This suggests that a 
pronunciation of YHWH as YAH:AWFH or YAH:AWEH could lie behind 
Clement's IAOUE. And the hatef-patah in these forms is very short and 
mobile, it is often replaced by silent shewa in Hebrew manuscripts, so 
it can hardly be called a third syllable, just as you mentioned for 
Yaakov. But this is no evidence for a three syllable pronunciation 
with a middle long O or U vowel, which was I think your earlier 
preference. Very short vowels may have been left out in 
transliteration, but long O's were not.

I have attached a list of all of the occurrences which I can find in 
the Hebrew Bible of syllable-initial waw in proper names with their 
LXX renderings.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Re[4]: YHWH vs. Yahweh
Author:  GregStffrd AT aol.com at internet
Date:    30/04/1999 10:21


<snip>

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.

<snip>

ENGLISH     HEBREW      LXX  GREEK FOR W  REFERENCES (in EVV)

Ahava       )AH:AWF)    EUI         U     EZR 8:15
                        AOUE        OU    EZR 8:21,31
      
Alvah       (AL:WFH     GWLA        -     GEN 36:40

Alvan       (AL:WFN     GWLWN       W?    GEN 36:23

Arvadite    )AR:WFDIY   ARADI-      -     GEN 10:18

Arvad       )AR:WFD     ARADI-      -     EZK 27:8,11

Ashvath     (A$:WFT     ASIQ        -     1CH 7:33

Bigvai      B.IG:WAY    BAGOUI      OU    EZR 2:2
                        BAGOI       O     EZR 2:14, NEH 7:7,19, 10:16
                        BAGO        O?    EZR 8:14

Hodevah     HOWD:WAH    OUDOUIA     OUI   NEH 7:43 (text ??)

Ishvah      YI$:WFH     IESOUA      OU    GEN 46:17
                        ISOUA       OU    1CH 7:30

Ishvi       YI$:WIY     IEOUL       OU?   GEN 46:17
                        IESOU       OU?   NUM 26:44 (v.28 LXX)
                        IESSIOU     ?     1SA 14:49
                        ISOUI       OU?   1CH 7:30

Ishvites    YI$:WIY     IESOUI      OU    NUM 26:44 (v.28 LXX)

Parvaim     P.AR:WFYIM  FAROUAIM    OU    2CH 3:6

Sepharvaim  S:PAR:WAYIM SEMFAROUAIN OU    2KI 17:24,31, 18:34, 19:13
                        SEMFARIM    -     ISA 36:19, 37:13

Sepharvites S:PAR:WIY   SEMFAROUAIN OU    2KI 17:31

Tikvah      T.IQ:WFH    QEKOUE      OU    2KI 22:14, EZR 10:15