Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Shoshanna Walker <rosewalk AT concentric.net>]

Sorry for asking this question, but it is a name, why does it have to 
have a root or be derived from anywhere, why can't it stand alone as 
a Name?  Why does it have to have an origin?  Why can't it just be 
(one of) G-d's name?

Shoshanna


> The root HWH/HYH can be seen as a basic root *HWH that developed
> features similar to "?YH" verbs (such as XYH "live") as a result of the
> nearby initial H.  Generally, "?WH" verbs seem rather stable in the
> Hebrew of the Bible, for example $WH ("equal"), LWH ("lend").  Both
> of these have Hiphil forms with the use of a waw, and it is definitely
> possible that the waw was retained in this form (assuming the verb
> ever had an Hiphil).  This shows just how oddball the HYH/HWH verb
> can be that it is hard to make any conclusions from it.  Similarly, the
> name YHWH may not necessarily be derived from HWH.  It could just
> as easily be derived from an otherwise unknown root *YHW.  Together,
> all these special cases make it impossible to categorize YHWH as
> a name of Aramaic origin.