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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] yhwh pronunciation
  • Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 23:31:31 +0100

On 20/07/2005 15:28, Rolf Furuli wrote:

...

We have discussed this on the list before, and I think we have come to
the conclusion that for the root HWH, according to the normal rules for
weak verbs, both the Qal 3rd person "imperfect" and the Hiphil 3rd
person "imperfect" would most probably have the form YAHWEH, i.e.
identical to the reconstructed form of the divine name. The Qal might
also be YIHWEH as the "imperfect" of roots with initial he is somewhat
variable, cf. YIHYEH from HYH.


I do not know who the "we" are that you mention in your second clause. But the word cannot include all the members of the list. I see no reason why YHWH should not be a verb, but at the same time, I see no reason why it should be. The following reasons speak against your Yahweh interpretation.


Rolf, my claim at this point is simply that if the verb HWH occurred in these forms, the pronunciation would be Yahwe. I am not claiming that the divine name is in fact a form of the verb HWH, although like you I see no reason why it should not be.

1) The verb HWH is Aramaic and occurs only four times in the Hebrew text of the Tanakh.


If it is used in a Hebrew text it is a Hebrew verb, although possibly a loan word.

2) The word-play in Exodus 3:14,15 is between HYH and YHWH. If YHWH comes from the verb HWH why not use this form in the word-play?
3) There is no Hiphil form of the static verbs HYH or HWH.


There is no ATTESTED Hiphil form of these verbs. But there are many words which must have existed in ancient Hebrew but have not been preserved in the Hebrew Bible. Anyway, my claim was merely that if there were such a conjugation, it would have this form.

4) If YHWH comes from HWH, and this is a name that God is supposed to have given himself, why is the third person singluar and not the first person used, as in the case of Ehye?


Easy: because in Exodus 3:15 YHWH is telling Moses what words to say to the Israelites, and of course Moses would need to use the third person.

5) If the name is Hiphil, 3rd person singular, YIQTOL the form would be YAHWE, as you say. But the only evidence we have (as shown in my previous post) is that the name had three syllables, and that the first two were YEHO.


This is not a fair summary of the lengthy discussions on this list and elsewhere, which have produced good indirect evidence, although not entirely conclusive, that the name had two syllables and was something like Yahwe.

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



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