Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Hi,


> Further I don't think in our discussions so far that you've attempted to
> make the case against the reconstruction YAHWEH. Have I missed something?
>
>
If YHWH was a third person Qal like YIHYEH we would expect the same vowels
i.e. YIHWEH.
If YHWH is a third person causative then we expect completely different
vowels and many weak consonant nuances come into play in the reconstruction
of the conjugation. Fortunately we have the theophorics and the form YAH to
help us. All the evidence seems to point to a O or U vowel on the middle
syllable and an A in the first syllable which is shortened to a schwa when
the accent is far enough removed hence yeho versus yahu. This shortening is
so strong that sometimes we get simply yo. When the full name is shortened
we get YAH. Are you suggesting that the shortened name retains the first
vowel rather than the last? Reconstructing we get:

Ye/aHo/uWaH

If we are to assume an accented final syllable then the reading YeHoWaH is
preferrable which is strikingly similar to what we see in the Massoretic
pointing.

James Christian