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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] IaBe = YHWH or IaBe = Jove?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: David P Donnelly <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] IaBe = YHWH or IaBe = Jove?
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 14:17:31 +0100

On 23/07/2005 11:40, David P Donnelly wrote:

Does "IaBe" = "YHWH" or does "IaBe" = "Jove"?
Josephus Book 12, Chapter 5 quotes the Samaritans as saying [under
duress]:

... let our temple which at present hath no name at all,
be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.

The God of Jupiter is said to be named “Jove”.
“Jove” is thought to be pronounced similar to “IaBe”
Some sources recommend pronouncing the "o" in "Jove" as "ah",
but instead try pronouncing the “o” in “Jove”, like the “o” in “Joshua”
e.g. J(awe)v(eh)
To be redundant:
Does "IaBe" = "YHWH" or does "IaBe" = "Jove"?


Well, there are several underlying issues here.

Could the Samaritans' use of the name YHWH have been derived from the Latin Jupiter (i.e Iu-father) or Jove (Latin stem form Iou-)? No, surely not, for the name YHWH was in use long before the Romans came to the area.

Could the Latin Jupiter/Jove be derived from the name YHWH? Possibly. Early Rome was certainly strongly influenced by Phoenicians, who may have included some worshippers of YHWH, cf. the probably Phoenician sailors in the book of Jonah, who, while polytheists, seem to have recognised YHWH as the creator God and prayed to him to save them (Jonah 1:9-10,14).

Could the Samaritans have chosen to allow their temple to be named after Jupiter because of the similarity of names? This one is entirely possible - and also they may have considered that Jupiter, the chief god of the Romans, was the best Roman parallel to YHWH in his general characteristics rather than his name.

Could the name IABE quoted by Theodoret in fact be a form of Jupiter/Jove? This seems unlikely. I think that Greek authors generally replaced the name Jupiter/Jove by Zeus. But if one had attempted to render the form Jove in Greek letters, he or she would surely have used an "o" or "u" vowel, rather than "a", in the first syllable.

What is your evidence that the name Jove was ever pronounced with an "a" vowel? This is certainly not regular pronunciation of Latin "o".

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





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