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  • From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: God's name: was Curious abut "G-d"
  • Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 17:45:35 -0700


A long time ago someone, I don't remember who but it was in the
Presbyterian Journal (I think) around 1981 or thereabouts, extracted
the prefixes from names like Yehonatan and the suffixes from
names like Eliyahu and came up with a pronunciation "Yehowahu."
Taking that approach it makes sense, but I sure wouldn't go to the
stake for it :-)

> That's exactly what I was thinking. I think the -ya(hu) suffix is generally
> thought to be a shortened form of the name, not the name itself.
>
> Trevor Peterson
> CUA/Semitics
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Raymond de Hoop [mailto:rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl]
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 5:06 PM
> > To: Biblical Hebrew
> > Subject: Re: God's name: was Curious abut "G-d"
> >
> >
> > Shalom,
> >
> > Two matres after one another would be impossible, in case you
> > would consider
> > /w/ also as a mater. In case of the vocalisation Yahweh, the /w/ is a
> > consonant, while the final /h/ could be a mater, and in that case the name
> > could be written Yahwe indeed.
> >
> > Greetings,
> > Raymond
> >
> >
> > > Van: "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
> > > Beantwoord: "Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>
> > > Datum: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 13:39:37 -0500
> > > Aan: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> > > Onderwerp: RE: God's name: was Curious abut "G-d"
> > >
> > > You're the Semiticist.
> > > Is it a matres lexiones?
> > > I don't know what it does in Yahweh either,
> > > you could write it yahwe.
> > > Liz
> > >
> > >> -----Original Message-----
> > >> From: Trevor Peterson [mailto:06PETERSON AT cua.edu]
> > >> Sent: Tue, January 22, 2002 1:26 PM
> > >> To: Biblical Hebrew
> > >> Subject: RE: God's name: was Curious abut "G-d"
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Then what's the other he (H) doing?
> > >>
> > >> Trevor Peterson
> > >> CUA/Semitics
> > >>
> > >>> ===== Original Message From "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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> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> ---
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> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
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> > >>>
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> > >>
> > >>
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> > >
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> >
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>
>
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>

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do
with it.
-Emerson





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