|
To be very precise, at least in the Masoretic text the YAH used as a short form of the divine name, especially in HLLW YH, is different from the –YAH ending of personal names. In the latter (with one exception, Y:DIYD:YFH. Jedidiah 2 Sam 12:25) the final H is unpointed and so a silent “mater”. In the form YAH the final H has a dot (mappiq) indicating that it is pronounced.
The name ending –YHW could have been pronounced Yahwe in older texts before a final vowel was (almost) consistently represented by a “mater” H. I guess most would agree that in the form YHWH the final H was actually silent, at least I haven’t seen arguments for it being pronounced. But the first H, which is not word final, must have been pronounced, and so the shortened form with the pronounced final H is appropriate.
Peter Kirk
Peter Kirk
-----Original Message-----
Yikes, Liz. You’re assuming I know enough to have an opinion on the Elephantine Papyri – I don’t even know Aramaic. And I’m not really sure how to explain the various differences in the divine name. But it does seem likely that YHW would have been pronounced differently from YHWH, don’t you think? Given that it can occur both as YH (usually in names, or in HLLW YH); as YHW (in names, or in extra-Biblical texts); as YHWH (normally in the Bible); and in Exodus 3:14 – probably as a word play -- as )HYH, it doesn’t seem at all unreasonable to conclude that it may have been pronounced different ways at different times. Why this is so, or what significance this might have had, I’m not at all sure.
Ken
-----Original Message-----
Interesting, Ken. are these just dialect differences? Also, in your list of examples, you left out my personal favorite: David's continually swearing "as YHWH lives," I'm going to get that bastard, or some such. Liz
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.