Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Mon 30 Apr 2001 (18:25:52), biblicalscribe AT hotmail.com wrote:
>  Secondly, what is the linguistic reasoning
> that assignes the vowels "a" (patach I believe) and "e" (sere I
> believe) under the divine name, as opposed to other vowels?  Thanks!

 This is the "Qere' perpetuum": the standing substitution of the word
 'a:DoNaY (my lord) for the Divine Name YHWH. To remind the reader not to
 try to pronounce the Divine Name, the vowels of the Qere' substitute are
 pointed into the consonants of YHWH. Thus Y:HoWaH is the composite form
 which was transliterated by the KJV translators as Jehovah. The gentile
 vocalization Yahweh probably comes from considering that the form YHWH is
 derived from the verb 'to be'; compare 'eH:YeH 'a:$eR 'eH:YeH in Exodus 3:14.
 Put from the 1st person to the 3rd person, YaH:YeH 'a:$eR YaH:YeH. Then
 put an `ayin waw for an `ayin yod, and you get YaH:WeH.

 It is not as simple as that; but the above is what I was once told....

 Shalom
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
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