Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <Peter_Kirk AT sil.org>]

I think you are a little confused here. It seems to me that Matthew Miller
is asking not about the shewa and qamets (or hireq) used in the Masoretic
pointing, but rather about the patach and tsere pointing which underlies the
pronunciation Yahweh. The basis for these vowels, and for the whole
pronunciation Yahweh, is mostly certain Greek renderings of the divine name
e.g. IABE and IAOUE.

Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Crick [mailto:ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk]
Sent: 02 May 2001 01:29
To: Biblical Hebrew
Subject: Re: YHWH


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>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm




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