Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Greg Stafford wrote:

"Actually, I checked Migne's copy of Clement's work, and IAOUE does 
not even appear there. It is actually the Greek form IAOU, which, 
similar to IAW, may well represent an abbreviated form of the divine 
name, which AGAIN maintains the middle vowel: IAOU = Yahu- ; IAW = 
Yaho-."

Can anyone else confirm this, that the basic datum is not what we 
thought? Where did the datum come from that Clement wrote IAOUE? Is 
there another source which Greg has not found, is there a textual 
variant, or was this just an old error? If so, potentially a very 
serious one as generations have been taught the pronunciation "Yahweh" 
on the basis of Clement's spelling. (However, I note that BDB supports 
the pronunciation YAHWEH without referring to Clement).

Beyond this, I have little to add to Greg's post except to agree that 
the matter cannot be decisively solved either way by Clement's form 
IAOUE, even if it does exist. But then the form IAOU might open up 
other possibilities...

Peter Kirk