Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 26/07/2005 13:20, Yigal Levin wrote:

> ...
>
> No, there is not. The earliest epigraphic evidence we have of the
> Tetragrammaton is in Mesha. But there, where, as I have written, matres
> lectionis are used only partially, final he's are used for the vowel o. So
> if the final he in YHWH was intended as a mater lectionis, it would have
> been pronounced Yahwoh. But I don't think it was. Which is why I think that
> all four letters of the Tetragrammaton were pronounced as consonants, and
> that the Name was never taken to be a verb (even if it is etymologically
> related to the verb HYH/HWH).
>
>  
Thank you. But I note from Yitzhak that in the Mesha stele there is also 
a final he mater lectionis for a probable "a" vowel in BLLH. So this 
suggests that the final vowel of YHWH, with he as a mater lectionis, 
could have well been "a", and by no means rules out final "e".

If the final he of YHWH is a pronounced consonant, the Name is highly 
unlikely to be related to the verb HYH/HWH in which the final he is 
always a mater lectionis, the real third root consonant being yod or vav.

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



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