Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

IT's probably Yahu, as in Eliyahu,
Yermiyahu, Netanyahu. Or Yehu, as in
Yehu (=Jehu). At Elephantine it's spelled
YHW, which is easily pronounced Yahu.
Now it could be Yaho, as Yahonatan. But
I vote for Yahu.
Liz

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shoshanna Walker [mailto:rosewalk AT concentric.net]
> Sent: Tue, January 22, 2002 11:42 AM
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Re: Curious abut "G-d"
>
>
>
> 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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