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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Why simple schwa in YHWH when marked to be pronounced Adonay?

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  • From: Garth Grenache <garthgrenache AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Why simple schwa in YHWH when marked to be pronounced Adonay?
  • Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 13:01:49 +1000



Dear all,

Yitzhak Sapir has provided a plausible explanation for why we never see hatef
patach of Adonay under the yod in YHWH, but do see the hatef segol of Elohim
when YHWH is marked to be pronounced Elohim.

His explanation is this:

"So we have several steps in the development of the hatafim:

1) Using schewa
2) Using hataf-vowel when the pronunciation differs from standard
schewa (hataf-patah) and hataf-patah when the schewa is not quiescent
but normally would be read as such. This includes the spelling Elohim,
but not Adonai. Adonai is still spelled at this point with a schewa.
3) Standardization of the vowel spelling of the tetragrammaton
4) Standardization of the gutturals. This includes the word Adonai, but not
the tetragrammaton."

Yitzhak, I was wondering how it is known that the hatef patach mark was once
only used to mark an otherwise ambiguous non-quiescent schwa and was then
later used under gutterals? Is this merely theoretical, or do medieval
discussions on the points confirm this?


I have another view which is merely theoretical -I don't know what medieval
discussions say about it:

*Qumran Greek IAO for YHWH and Elephantine spelling YHW are suggestive that
YHWH had come to be pronounced as "Yaho". [i.e. it's W became understood as
long o, and the final H became superfluous.]
*Masoretes did not intend to point the vowels with which YHWH was pronounced.
*Therefore, the Masoretes originally avoided pointing the Y with 'a' and the
H with 'o'.
*Masoretes did safely point Y with 'e' of Elohim, because 'e' is not in
'Yaho'.
*Thus L usually reads Y:hwah (with all the non-"Yaho" vowels of Adonay) and
Yehwih (with all the non-"Yaho" vowels of Elohim).
*Other (later or distant) scribes were perhaps less familiar with the 'Yaho'
pronunciation(?), perhaps knowing that it should be 'Yahw-'(??), probably
being less familiar with the original tradition of the Masoretes and its
reasoning, added the 'o' of Adonay and of Elohim to create the more complete
pointings Y:howah and Yehowih, which became the final standard.


Garth Grenache,
Australia

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