Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 03/08/2005 12:54, Vadim Cherny wrote:

> > > Sure. Try finding anyone who cared to learn ancient Greek, and make him
> > > believe ihie could be transliterated as Iao.
> > >
> > >      
> > Why should I attempt this, as I don't believe it myself. You are
> > attacking a straw man, as NO ONE except you in this discussion, except
> > yourself, has suggested a divine name anything like "ihie".
> >
> >    
>
> Besides your imagined hophal Yahwe, ...

This is not a hophal, but either a qal or a hiphil.

> ... Jews generally accept the niphal Yehawe;
> iehawe is very much like ihie ...

Where do you get this imagined "ihie" from? Is it your version of ehye? 
This is the regular FIRST person "imperfect" of HYH, with an initial 
alef, as found in Exodus 3:14. But no one is claiming that this is the 
actual divine name - although it might stand behind the odd Greek form AIA.

> ... in that he or waw is strong, consonantal, and
> is unlikely to result in Iao, the best-attested transliteration.
>  

I will grant you this. The origin of Iao is somewhat different.
...l

> > This is not true. We also have forms like IAOUE and IABE, as well as AIA
> > and others. All of these forms need to be interpreted. But they are all
> > basic evidence which need to be treated a priori on the same level.
> >
> >    
>
> I already answered this. Iaoue is quite evidently Iao+h. ...

No. I will not repeat my proof that it is not.

> ... Iabe might be
> iehawe or iahwe, but no less likely is letter-for-letter transcription of
> YHWH. aia could be 1s FT, but equally well this could be an isolated garbled
> pronunciation. Iao, on the contrary, is attested in independent sources, and
> thus very credible.
>  

IAOUE and IABE independently confirm one another while clearly not being 
copied from one another. So they are also "very credible". It seems 
highly probable that by the late Roman or Byzantine period of all of 
these transliterations, there were at least two forms of the name in 
circulation, one like Yahwe and the other like Yaho. But we cannot tell 
from this which was original.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
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