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  • From: "Edward Andrews" <edandrews AT adelphia.net>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Tetragrammaton
  • Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:20:52 -0400

Pawell:

As to the pronunciation “Jehovah;” as I brought out earlier, the origin of the word Jehovah used to be attributed to Petrus Galatinus. However, the scholarship has proved he was not the one to introduce the pronunciation Jehovah, and neither was Porchetus de Salvaticis. As shown by Joseph Voisin, the learned editor of the Pugio Fidei (The Poniard of Faith) by Raymundus Martini, Jehovah had been used long before Galatinus. Even a generation before Porchetus de Salvaticis wrote his Victoria contra Judaeos (1303), the Spanish Dominican friar Raymundus Martini wrote his Pugio, about 1278, and used the name Jehovah. In fact, Porchetus took the contents of his Victoria largely from Martini’s Pugio. In addition, Scaliger proves that Galatinus took his De Arcanis bodily from Martini’s Pugio. Galatinus did not introduce the pronunciation Jehovah, but merely defended it against those who pronounced the Hebrew Tetragrammaton Jova.


In the Hebrew language, “There are, generally speaking, two main pronunciations: the Ashkenazi, or German, originated by central and Eastern European Jews and carried to all countries to which those Jews have emigrated (Western Europe, America, etc.); and the Sephardi, or Spanish, used by Jews of Spanish or Portuguese stock in Europe and America and also by Jews from Oriental countries. In all universities and throughout Israel, the Sephardi pronunciation has been adopted, since it is generally believed that this is the pronunciation nearest to the original.” (Biblical Hebrew Step by Step, vol. 1, p 33, by Professor emeritus of Hebrew and Semitic studies, Menahem Mansoor).


It is a well known fact, that the Ashkenazi Jews had changed the pronunciation of the jod to that of the “y” sound. However, the Sephardic Jews have kept the original pronunciation of the jod as “j.”


The first symbol representing both the “i” and “j” came into use around the beginning of the 9th century C.E. In the late 11th century C.E. brought to Saxon, England. Therefore, the first symbol representing the “j” sound was in England 500 years before William Tyndale. Early in the 13th century the lower case “j” was formed by adding a curl to the bottom of the small ”i.” However, the Capital “J” would have to wait until the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. Thus, The capital “I” was still used for the “J” sound when before a vowel.


Regardless of some letters of the English alphabet being invented in later centuries, the sound that they represented were in place from the earliest of times. Only the symbols that was used to represent the sound changed.


As has been said, Galatinus did not originate the pronunciation “Jehovah.” However, Drusius put it out there, as though he did, although, years earlier he had stated otherwise himself. Cappel, on the other hand perpetuated this as a fact. A few quotes in encyclopedias and from well-known scholars and you have a passing on of misinformation for so long, it is hardly observed that it did not happen that way.


Ed Andrews

----- Original Message ----- From: "Pawel Sajdek" <pawel AT kul.stalwol.pl>
To: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, August 21, 2006 4:36 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Tetragrammaton


Shoshanna Walker napisał(a):

You mean to say - that in 1520, someone who was called Galatinus,
decided, that he knew what was not known for thousands of years by
the People who were given the Torah by the Creator of the Universe,
and everyone (except for the Jews, of course) said - ok, thanks for
letting us know???

Is this for real?



Why not? Don't forget that for Christians the question of how to
vocalize the Tetragrammaton
was not that crucial. The name Jesus is pronounced in various ways
depending on the language
and no one tries to standardize it or to evoke the original
pronunciation. To cut it short, they
might have said 'thanks for letting us know' out of mere indifference.

--
Pawel Sajdek
<>< XPICTOC NIKA ><>

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