Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

According to Judah's birth-story in Gen. 29:35, his name is derived
from )WDH - "odeh", "thank" (the Lord), root Y/WDH. Whether or not this
etymology is historically correct, it very well may be that to Judahites of
the 7th century, the W in YHWDH was considered a root consonant, and so
would not be omitted. Once again, could be that a century earlier this
etymology was not yet known. To Aramaic-speaking Persian officials of the
5th century, the etymology was irrelevant.

By the way, Patrina, I'd be careful before getting too excited about
anything published in BAR, that has not yet been published in a more
professional journal. While Robert Deutsch is a serious epigrapher, so is
Andre Lameir, of "James" fame. BAR has a record of publishing sensations.

Yigal

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrina" <patrina AT bestmail.us>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] DWD or DWYD, YHDH or YHWDH


> On Mon, 28 Jun 2004 10:11:55 -0600, "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
> said:
> Being a big fan of the simplest explanation
> > possible, I tend to vote for the idea that they're merely two different
> > spellings, either one acceptable in polite company (so to speak), with
> > one or the other gaining popularity for a time from one period to the
next.
>
> Dave
>
> That being the case, wouldn't you expect to find both YHDH and YHWDH
> attested in the biblical texts (assuming some are from differing
> periods)?  Surely different scribes were involved in copying texts,
> making it more likely that variations would show up at least
> occasionally...  yet approx. 800 occurences in the Tenach are all YHWDH.
>
> It's pretty amazing to read about Hezekiah's seals and see the images,
> not only regarding the spelling of Judah, but also the use of Egyptian
> solar symbols.  On the one hand it brings the Tenach to life, and yet on
> the other hand leaves us wondering about the extent of Hezekiah's
> reforms.
>
> Patrina Nuske Small
> Adelaide, South Australia
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