Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Chavoux Luyt <chavoux AT gmail.com>]

Shalom Rolf

On 3 June 2013 17:00, <b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org> wrote:

From: "Rolf" <rolf.furuli AT sf-nett.no>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Cc: 
Date: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:20:12 +0200
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] G.Gertoux and the Name...
Dear Jonathan,

I have an explanation that differs from yours. The kaf is the first letter of the syllable, and because it has no preceding vowel, it should have had a dagesh and have been a stop, according to Masoretic rules. But it is fricative because other forms of MLK have a vowel before the kaf. Therefore, when Masoretic rules are violated, and we find a fricative begadkefat, which should have been a stop, this is often a signal that something is lacking that previously was there—here a vowel.


The vocalization of the four consonants YHWH leads to one closed syllable, YEH, and one open syllable, WA. A shewa in a closed syllable violates the rules of the Masoretes, Therefore, when it occurs, it may signal that something is lacking that previously was there. And this "something" naturally was a vowel after he. This would lead to three open syllables YE-H+vowel-WA.

The position of Nehemiah Gordon may or may not be true; in my view, his arguments are not  convincing. We do not know the real pronunciation of YHWH, but the clues we have, based on theophoric names, and corroborated by Akkadian transcriptions of Hebrew names, are that YHWH had three syllables, that the first was YE, and the last was WA, or WE (segol), and that the middle vowel was O  or U. There is absolutely no ancient Hebrew evidence in favor of the two-syllabic YAHWEH.

 

I would once again ask about the possibility that it was actually a piel form with the vowels of "Y'HaWeH" where the u in the Greek transliterations would be the result of the waw rather than a middle vowel. It is not strange that the Greek transliteration would not preserve the 3 syllables accurately, resulting in IABE.. Of course it is also possible that different dialects of Hebrew pronounced the Name slightly differently, since we have archaeological evidence of differences in spelling between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms when including the Name as part of a person's name (e.g. the shorter -YaH ending predominating in Northern Israel with the longer -YaHuW ending used more in Judah).

Regards

Chavoux Luyt