Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Garth Grenache <garthgrenache AT hotmail.com>]

Dear Karl,

Karl> No, my question is: did the Greeks, who had no ?w? phoneme, perceive a 
?w?
as a ?ou? diphthong? If so, then this is an argument against the 
pronunciation of ?YaHWeH?, rather an argument for a trisyllabic ?YaHoWeH?.
 
If they did perceive the w as a vowel or diphthong, that is *not* an argument 
against the pronunciation YaHWeH, because that is a reconstruction of Hebrew 
phonemes and 2 syllables... which you are suggesting the Greek's may have 
perceived as 3 syllables.

If Greeks called YaHWeH/IAOUE 3 syllables, it wouldn't mean that the Hebrew 
word is 3 syllables!


You have been suggesting that IAOUE *could* represent 3 syllables of a Hebrew 
word, which I do not deny.
I and others have demonstrated that it could represent simple 2 syllables, as 
OU is used for foreign 'w'.

But if OUE is 2 syllables,  the OU could represent 'uw' as both these vowels 
would sound as long u to the Greek, and thus they might represent 'uw' with a 
single digraph OU, rather than OUOU.

But for OUE to be transliterating 'owe' is less likely, as the Greek reader 
would read the OU as long u or w and not as o+w.  

Suppose, for example, you are suggesting that the long o of Yeho- names is 
before the 'w'.  This Hebrew vowel is rendered with O:MEGA.  If it were 
YaHo-WeH with this Hebrew vowel, it would likely be rendered IAO:OUE.

Clement doesn't render it as IAO:OUE, and he is rendering a Hebrew name.  His 
rendering IAOUE could represent YaHWe/YaHWa/YaHuWe/YaHuWa, but not likely 
Yaho:we.

But the Greek syncretist magical inscriptions, which call Him both Adonay and 
Zeus(Roman IOWE), do have I-A-O:-OU-E:-E.  Would you suppose the Hebrew Name 
was YaHoWeHe to fit in so many vowels?  Or maybe Ya-oHoWeHe, to be consistent 
with the notion that OU should be o+w?  Or maybe Yi-a-o-Ho-WeHe?  I don't 
think so!


Having demonstrated that IAOUE could represent either YaHW- or YaHuW-, I 
suggest we discuss what evidence is in favour of these two interpretations of 
the Name.  Karl, would you offer the Hebrew evidence you speak of?

Garth Grenache.





                                          
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