Biblical Hebrew Forum

[GregStffrd AT aol.com]

In a message dated 5/1/99 4:28:58 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG writes:

<< 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. >>


Dear Peter:

Thank you for your reply and the examples you have listed. I will consider 
them closely over the next couple of days while I am out of town.

I do not have a dogmatic position on this issue, as mentioned previously. The 
evidence from the Hebrew Bible, concerning theophoric elements in compound 
names, supports a trisyllable pronunciation, not a bisyllable pronunciation, 
as was also noted by Buchanan, in my posts to Henry. 

As for the Greek transliteration of Hebrew names, and regarding the Greek 
IABE and IAOUE (there are others, of course), I believe, as I stated, that it 
is possible for the divine name to have contained a short vowel sound, as 
opposed to a long middle vowel. But, again, the evidence from Hebrew compound 
names does not seem to support this view. Still, I have no particular 
preference, other than to what the accumulated evidence seems to point, and 
it is not in the direction of Yahweh, as being the ancient HEBREW (not 
Samaritan) pronunciation. 

Best Regards,

Greg Stafford