Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Awohili AT aol.com]

I'm not so sure.  Whereas Hebrew as a spoken language of daily  intercourse 
ended, it remained the language of religion.  And YHWH is the  most religious 
of words.  The decline in pronouncing YHWH by some segments  of Judaism is 
generally traced to 100 BCE - 100 CE, or thereabouts.
 
"Those who say don't know; those who know don't say."  That phrase  comes to 
mind, though I am sure it was not originally discussing the  Tetragram.   
 
Solomon Landers
 
In a message dated 08/02/2005 10:34:41 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk writes:

The point was that a hebrew up to the 7th century could quite easily  have
pronounced the word by merely viewing the consanantal order.
As the  language died out no-one with that ability  remains.