Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

Please keep in mind that no one knows how to pronounce that name, and no one
was allowed to pronounce that name except for one person, in one place, once
a year.

Shoshanna



> I agree with Ian 100%.
> Thanks Ian.
> It should be noted in addition that Blenkinsopp
> in his new Isaiah commentary spells the tetragrammaton
> YHVH only to be consistent with modern Hebrew usage.
> Jews from Arab countries pronounce it as waw, presumably
> supporting the notion of German influence for the vav.
> Liz
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ian Hutchesson [mailto:mc2499 AT mclink.it]
> > Sent: Tue, January 22, 2002 10:47 AM
> > To: Biblical Hebrew
> > Subject: Re: Curious abut "G-d"
> >
> >
> > >Wouldn't the letters of the Tetragrammaton be YHVH, not YHWH? The third
> > >letter is for 'vav' if I'm not mistaken, right?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >Right - vav
> >
> > Sorry, there's no reason to believe that this is the case. One cannot
use
> > the mores of modern Hebrew to say how things were pronounced in ancient
> > times. vav as an ancient rendering of the sound makes little sense when
> > one considers the ancient use of waw as a vowel /u/, especially
> > in the DSS.
> > This strongly indicates a bilabial liquid consonant related to
> > the /u/, ie
> > /w/, for when you make a /w/ the mouth is in the right state also to
make
> > the vowel sound /u/. As a /v/ is a (labio-dental) fricative, it uses a
> > different mechanism to provide sound and puts the mouth in no state
> > reminiscent of a /u/. Perhaps one could supply a *phonological*
> > connection
> > between waw and its vocalic use some other way, but I haven't
> > seen it done
> > and can't imagine one.
> >
> > We do have a strong analogy to the w/u relationship, when yod is
> > used as a
> > vowel yielding /i/, for when you make a /y/ the mouth is in the
> > right state
> > also to make an /i/.
> >
> > waw as vav seems unjustified to me, so I'd say "wrong".
> >
> > Didn't we get vav from waw after the German sound shift /w/ -> /v/?
> >
> >
> > Ian
> >
> >
> >
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