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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Variants of YHWH in the BHS Text

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Liz Fried <lizfried AT umich.edu>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Variants of YHWH in the BHS Text
  • Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 11:59:37 -0700

On 28/09/2003 11:41, Liz Fried wrote:

Add H, yes, but why U or O? After all, the Hebrew basis of Greek ABRAAM and AARWN is not Avrahoam or Ahuaron. Maybe Greek IAOUE might be more like Yahue, but in Greek it would not be well-defined whether this was two syllables yah-we or three syllables ya-hu-e. To go back to Hebrew, if the vav is used as evidence for a central U or O vowel it cannot be reused as a consonant, but I supposed the pronunciation could be something like ya-hu-he, or even ya-huah with a furtive patah before he with mappiq. So maybe your conclusion is not so off-based, but not because HU or HO is dropped.

Brilliant!
A furtive patah! of course!
ya-hu-ah
Right, I ran into problems, cuz I cannot have the W be both a vowel and a
consonant, and I cannot have two vowels together.
But YaHUaH would solve it all, no?
Liz

Well, in favour we have the final he with mappiq in the short form Yah.

But against, we have the etymology. Yahuah with a mappiq would have to come from an otherwise unattested root he - vav - he, with the last he a real one marked by mappiq and not a yod which has been dropped and then replaced by a he mater. So no relationship with HYH/HWH (really HYY/HWY) = "to be", and Exodus 3:14 becomes at best a misleading folk etymology. While I don't usually set much store by etymology, other things being equal it is better to link a word to a well known Semitic root than to an otherwise unknown one.

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






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