Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Re: YHVH Derivation

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Evgeny Ivanov <evi7538 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: YHVH Derivation
  • Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 10:05:41 -0700 (PDT)

There is an interesting evidence that the word "YHVH" has something to do
with the verb "to be". It may not be a solid evidence, but may be worth
taking into account. It is the Gospel of John 18.4.

18:4 "Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him,
came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?” They replied, “Jesus the
Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,”
they retreated and fell to the ground."

Why would the soldiers (who in the garden were Israelites, not Romans) "fell
to the ground" when they heard Jesus saying “I am he.”? There is a hypothesys
that Jesus said "YHWH" and it was hearing the HaShem that made the Israelites
fall to the ground. But if that is true, than the translation to Greek in
form of “I am he” suggests that this is how early Christian Israelites
understood the meaning of HaShem.

Evgeny

"Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com> wrote:
> Is there any etymological connection between the Tetragrammaton
>and the idea of "breathing" or "breath"? The Siddur says, "The breathing of
>all life praises thy Name," and I'm wondering if this might be more than
>merely a platitude. Could there be an actual connection between YHVH and
>"breath"?

The only connection between YHWH (note - not YHVW) and breathing is
interpretive, not historical.

Van der Toorn's article in DDD on "Yahweh" goes through several
unlikely possibilities, noting the stunning amount of literature
devoted to the topic.

But the bottom line is that YHWH seems not to have an etymology.

Noting that (unlike Elohim, El, etc.), YHWH does not appear before
Israelite writing, I believe (based on this and considerable
additional evidence) that the Israelites invtented the term,
specifically out of the matres lectiones that they also invented.
(This is why it didn't have a pronunciation; it was purely a writing
convention.)

Sadly, my theory doesn't account for any connection between the verb
"to be" (HYH) and YHWH, relegating any similarities to coincidence,
but it does account for:

1. The lack of historical etymology to the word.

2. The fact that it contains only matres lectiones.

3. The fact that the traditional pronuncation for the word has
nothing to do with the sound of the letters.

4. The fact that until very late, the letters of YHWH themselves, and
not the sounds, seemed to be primary. (Some copies of the LXX
contain the Hebrew letters, and some DSS use the ancient letters
for YHWH among modern letters for the rest of the text.)

It also accords well with the fact that the Israelites seem to have
used their matres lectiones for other important tasks, including
adding a Hey to the names of their Patriarch (AVRM --> AVRHM),
Matriarch (SHY --> SRH) and deity (ELYM --> ELHYM).

-Joel Hoffman



_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
>From mattfeld12 AT charter.net Wed May 4 13:19:34 2005
Return-Path: <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from mxsf38.cluster1.charter.net (mxsf38.cluster1.charter.net
[209.225.28.165])
by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3FA034C008
for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed, 4 May 2005 13:19:34 -0400
(EDT)
Received: from mxip08.cluster1.charter.net (mxip08a.cluster1.charter.net
[209.225.28.138])
by mxsf38.cluster1.charter.net (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id
j44HJX5u027140
for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Wed, 4 May 2005 13:19:33 -0400
Received: from 66-189-27-16.dhcp.oxfr.ma.charter.com (HELO yourus67pi6luv)
(66.189.27.16)
by mxip08.cluster1.charter.net with SMTP; 04 May 2005 13:19:32 -0400
X-Ironport-AV: i="3.92,154,1112587200";
d="scan'208"; a="898501998:sNHT878101636"
Message-ID: <001501c550cd$740612c0$101bbd42@yourus67pi6luv>
From: "Walter R. Mattfeld" <mattfeld12 AT charter.net>
To: "b-hebrew List" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2005 13:19:38 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180
Subject: [b-hebrew] Re: YHWH Derivation
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: Hebrew Bible List <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
<mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
<mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 17:19:34 -0000


Dr. Joel M. Hoffman recently observed:

"...But the bottom line is that YHWH seems not to have an etymology...Sadly,
my theory doesn't account for any connection between the verb "to be" (HYH)
and YHWH..."

I note that Dr. Beitzel expressed reservations concerning a relationship
between "to be" and Yahweh. Cf. an extract below of his research:

Dr. Beitzel:

"Since the writing of G.R. Driver, a number of scholars have embraced the
opinion that the divine name, when it first arose, did not have a readily
intelligible form, instead being an emotional cultic outburst, such as
dervishes might cry out ecstaticly. In the main basing his conclusions upon
extra-biblical evidence, Driver affirmed that the antique form of the deity
worshipped by some pre-Mosaic Hebrw ancestors was the digrammaton Ya, a form
whose origin was a kind of numinal exclamation. Conclusive for Driver was
the fact that whereas Hebrew compound proper names were never formed with
Yahweh, many were formed with Ya. Now over a period of time, such primitive
ecstatic ejaculations tend to be prolonged. Thus, taken together with
Driver's belief that the genius of the Exodus event lay in the creation of a
new national Hebrew diety, the evolution from Ya to Yahweh was easily
effected. At once, this new form was recognized on the basis of popular
etymology as closely resembling the verb hayah, therein facilitating its
general acceptance and interpretation by the Mosaic community...As to these
presuppositions, it must be asserted that it would be unprecedented for a
Semetic divine name to originate in a religious exclamation...Furthermore,
leaving aside the problem of how Ya developed into Yahweh and not some other
form, Semitic proper names normally begin with transparent appellations or
sentences and shorten or disintegrate. They do not become prolonged, as
supposed by adherents of this view."

While the present writer has frequently encountered divine names consisting
of one-word nouns (e.g. El), genitive compounds (e.g. Dagan-Neri, "Dagon is
light"), noun plus pronoun (e.g. Yaum-An, "An is mine"), and verb plus noun
(e.g. Itur'-Mer, "Mer returns"), it would be virtually unparalleld for a
bare verbal form to exist as a divine name.

What is more, it must be pointed out that a root HWY is inextant in all West
Semitic languages which antedate the Mosaic era. That is to say, Phoenician
contains no root HWY; Ugaritic, despite its attestation of a divine name yw,
bears no witness to this verbal root; and Amorite Akkadian evidences no root
HWY. The root HWY is attested only in Aramaic, Syriac, Nabatean and
Palmyrian...At the same time, a host of scholars advance the theory that the
tetragrammaton derives from the causative stem of a Hebrew verb hayah. In
this case, "Yahweh" and the verb "to be" are understood to be fused
etymologically, and the divine name is taken to convey the meaning "the One
Who causes to be (what is)," "He Who brings things to pass," or "the
Performer of the Promise.

But again, one is left with a divine name composed wholly of a finite verb
and, in this case, one of a demonstrably non-existent causative stem...In
any case, the causative of this root is unattested in Semitic. (Barry J.
Beitzel. "Exodus 3:14 and the Divine Name: A Case of Biblical Paronomasia."
Trinity Journal. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. 1980)



Regards, Walter

Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.

mattfeld12 AT charter.net

www.bibleorigins.net








Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page