Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Peter Kirk wrote:
>
>So I would suggest that we do know the root, the early Hebrew HWH
>which later assimilated to HYH - or is there any other possibility? We
>do more or less know the language, archaic Hebrew or perhaps dating
>back to common west Semitic. Within that language, or at least the
>rather later form still extant, we have good evidence that there could
>have been a 2-syllable pronunciation of YHWH.
>
>Is there evidence for a 3-syllable pronunciation of such words?
>Limited, I think. The analogies might be feminine nouns from roots
>with final W . Extant forms include $AL:WFH, GA):AWFH, XED:WFH,
>(ER:WFH (GKC 84a c epsilon). But I cannot find any four letter forms
>ending in -WH with 3-syllable pronunciation - do you know of any?
>

Dear Peter,

The point I tried to convey was that we better discuss the text of the
Hebrew Bible rather than speculating about vowel changes and the meaning of
old names. When I brought Aramaic into the discussion, it was not to
suggest that YHWH is Aramaic, but to show how uncertain any interpretation
of YHWH is. (BTW, one memberof the list  pointed out to me that the root of
the Haphel of  Dan 5:12 is XWH ("to show") and not HYW. My Gramcord seach
listed both together.) There are at least two other roots that has been
suggested as the background of YHWH, but I will not bring this into the
discussion.

As to pronunciation,  I thought for many years that something close to
Yahweh was likely. But after reading G. W. Buchanan, "Some Unfinished
Business With the Dead Sea
Scrolls," Revue de Qumran, 1988, 13:49-52 I changed my mind, and believe
that a pronunciation close to Yahowah is more likely. I recommend this
article.

Regards
Rolf

Rolf Furuli,
Lecturer in Semitic languages
University of Oslo

>