Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 27/09/2003 16:21, Dave Washburn wrote:

> On Saturday 27 September 2003 15:22, Peter Kirk wrote:
>  
>
> > On 27/09/2003 13:42, Dave Washburn wrote:
> >    
> >
> > > ...  I have a friend
> > > named John; if he moved to Mexico he would probably be called Juan, while
> > > if he moved to Russia he'd be called Ivan. ...
> > >      
> > Not true, actually. I know of several Americans and Brits called John
> > who have lived in Russia and other Russian speaking countries. They are
> > never called Ivan. No one ever tried to call me Pyotr. It is not a
> > Russian custom to Russianise names of foreign men, though oddly they do
> > tend to do it with women's names which are similar to common Russian
> > ones e.g. Cathy becomes Katya.
> >    
>
> Okay, I overstated.  What I meant was, diachronically they're all the same 
> name (John, Juan, Ivan, and I'll even throw in French Jean and German 
> Johann). ...
And how about Anglicised Hebrew Jehohanan (e.g. Neh 12:13) while you are 
at it? For actually this illustrates what can happen to the divine name, 
as part of a longer name, in various languages.

> ...  My Russian example actually came from a snippet of a Tom Clancy 
> novel, ...
I can't often fault Tom Clancy, but I had noted before that the way his 
Russian character gives Russian names and patronymics to Americans, even 
while speaking English, is either a sign of a very special close 
affection or else plain wrong.

> ... but the point remains the same: how a name is pronounced is largely a 
> matter of culture and native language, and how one pronounces YHWH - or 
> whether one does - really doesn't matter.  Like Liz, I tend to go with Yahweh 
> myself for the sake of convenience.
>
>  
Agreed.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/