Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

Hello Dave,

I have previously suggested that yhwh represented a name of a qatl form.
Such a form is probably the most common form for deity names including
Baal, Shamsh, Yamm, perhaps Qaws, and other deities.  It would also serve
to provide an explanation for the differing forms.  Personal names generally
have an aleph ending (in the north) or an he ending (in the south) when we
are dealing with qatl bases, including deities.  For example, we have names
like B(l) in the north.  Given this the differing forms would be:

yhw = In Kuntillet Ajrud, yahwu.  Later, yaho < *yahwu
yhwh = yahwa(h) - Judea/Moab
yhw) = yahwa(h) - Yehu, whose name is transliterated in Assyrian as ia-u-a
yh = In Iron Age, yaho, Later, yah < *yaho < *yahwu
yw- prefix = ya(:)wu < *yahwu

yw- prefixes appear alongside yhw- prefixes very early, almost as soon as
Yahwistic names begin to appear.  This implies both that the -w- is probably
 consonantal (as internal -w- matres lectionis were not used at that time), 
and
also suggests that there is no vowel following the he (or it would be hard to
explain the alternative forms).

The above goes well with two pieces of evidence we have from the
turn of the eras:
4QLXXLev-b, which transliterates the name into greek (apparently
suggesting *yaho).
See: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak/temp/Connect-Dots.html
for images
See also YHWH Texts and Monotheism, by David Capes for discussion
http://books.google.com/books?id=TxZK1Le1DpkC&pg=PA120

And also, the Mishnah from which we have the vocalization apparently as
whw/whw).

Note that already at this time we see the practice of replacing the name
with Adonai, which I suggest is also apparent in Amos 7:7.

Now, yahwe/yahwai might reflect a northern pronunciation, reflecting
different independent lines of pronunciations, all passing down from
yahw- as a qatl deity name.  (The ai may be a similar suffix as in
Adonai).

However, all this evidence for a Greek pronunciation stands apart from
4QLXXLev-b, and the Mishnah, due to the respective dating.  Some
various online sources mention Samaritan inscriptions in Greek that
have iabe, but I found no corroboration for that.  (If so, it might move
this to the earlier category).

Yitzhak Sapir