Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Yes John, you are correct. From the epigraphic evidence that we have
(ostraca, bullae, burial inscriptions etc.), it seems like the form YH (Yah)
was common in pre-exilic Judah, YW (Yoh, or maybe Yaw) in northern Israel,
and YHW (Yahu) in the post-exilic period. The Bible, which, even it it does
preserve ancient material, was edited by post-exilic Judeans, has all three
and is not consistant, even giving variant spellings of the same name:
Yehonatan/Yonatan, Yoram/Yehoram, Eliyahu/Eliyah etc.

Yigal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John W. Leys." <eliyahu5733 AT gmail.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 10:27 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation
> This brings up something I've been curious about for some time. Several
> of these names have variant spellings/pronunciations. The example the
> leaps to mind is that of אליהו ('eliyahu), which is also written (as in
> Malachi 3.23) אליה (eliyah). Does this reflect a difference in
> pronunciation in different regions (Northern Kingdom v Southern) or
> different time periods? And could it reflect a difference in
> pronunciation of YHWH, or is it assumed to be restricted to the derived
> names?
>
> -- 
> Shalom
> John W. Leys
> Graduate School, Jewish Theological Seminary (Student)