CONSONANTS OR VOWELS?

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[PDF] Is The Correct Pronunciation Known?

IAOUE
Answers

IAOUE
Wikipedia

The Tetragrammaton in Phoenician (1100 BC to 300 CE), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts.

The mitre on this priest head reads,
"Qodesh La Yahweh",
meaning Set-Apart to Yahweh.

According to a first century historian the pronunciation consisted of four vowel sounds. Pronounced 'E' as in He, 'A' as in Father, 'U' like the 'u' in true and and the final 'A' vowel sound, because it comes at the end of the word is a long 'A', as in faith. This becomes easy to remember in our English language, with these few words: 'He, Father, True, Faith'.

"A mitre also of fine linen encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribband, about which there was another golden crown, in which was engraved the sacred name...: it consist of four vowels." From: The Works of Flavius Josephus, The Learned And Authentic Jewish Historian, And A Celebrated Warrior, pg 785, Book V, Ch. V, Wars of the Jews, sec. 7.

Tetragrammaton - Using consonants as semi-vowels In Biblical Hebrew, most vowels are not written and the rest are written only ambiguously, as the vowel letters double as consonants (similar to the Latin use of V to indicate both U and V). See Matres lectionis for details. For similar reasons, an appearance of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Egyptian records of the 13th century BC sheds no light on the original pronunciation. 2. Therefore it is, in general, difficult to deduce how a word is pronounced from its spelling only, and the Tetragrammaton is a particularly bad example: two of its letters can serve as vowels, and two are vocalic place-holders, which are not pronounced. Not surprisingly then, Josephus in Jewish Wars, chapter V, wrote, "…in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels". In Greek, they are Ιαου, which comes out to Yau, since iota is used to represent semi-vocalic 'y' (and omicron+ypsilon="oo"). Further, Josephus's four vowels are confirmed by theophoric stems in personal names, always: Yaho/Yahu/Y:ho/Y:hu.[1] These yield in English Yau and Yao, which are pronounced the same. Once again, the heh is not pronounced here in Hebrew, but is used instead as a place holder. Moreover, Gnostic texts, such as those Marcion wrote, discuss the Judaic god extensively, and spell the Tetragrammaton in Greek, Ιαω, that is "Yao." Lastly, Levantine texts (including those from ancient Ugarit) render the Tetragrammaton Yaw, pronounced "Yau."[2] Tetragrammaton - Using the vowels of YHWH Josephus wrote that the sacred name consisted of four vowels. Many sacred name ministries who believe that YHWH consists of four vowels pronounce these four vowels as "ee-ah-oo-eh" and believe that indicates God's name was either "Yahweh" or "Yahuweh". In what may be a coincidence, the Greek name "ιαουε" would have been pronounced "Yah-oo-eh". (Iota is used as both a vowel and a semi-vowel.) SOURCE

The Works of Flavius Josephus

Translated by William Whiston

The Name Yahweh:
Composed of Hebrew Semi-vowels

The reason our Heavenly Father and Creator's Name is knowable, even with the scribes' intentional plotting, is because the Hebrew letters which form It are known as semi-vowels. They can act as both a consonant and vowel sound. The four semi-vowels are aleph (x), yod (y), heh (h), and waw (v).

Aleph is transliterated as an apostrophe (denoting an accented syllable), and is a guttural. Yod is transliterated as "Y" or "I" and is pronounced "ee." Heh is transliterated as "H" and is pronounced based on the letters surrounding it, such as "eh" and "ah." Waw is transliterated as "W" or "U" or "V" and is pronounced most commonly as a double-o, "ooh."

Our Heavenly Father's Name is composed of three of the four, in order: yod, heh, waw, heh. Thus, putting the sounds together yields four possibilities for the pronunciation based on how Hebrew is spoken today: ee-ah-oo-eh, ee-eh-oo-eh, ee-ah-oo-ah, and ee-eh-oo-ah.

To prove this vital point one only needs to consult any book on Hebrew grammar. For example, Weingreen states:

"However, LONG BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF VOWEL- SIGNS it was felt that the main VOWEL-SOUNDS should be indicated in writing, and so the three letters

, were used to represent long vowels."

R. Laird Harris writes in his Introductory Hebrew Grammar:

"Four of the Hebrew letters

, and

are called vowel letters."

Mark and Rogers’ A Beginners Handbook To Biblical Hebrew on page 7 reads: Originally Hebrew had no written vowels; the following consonants, however, were often used to indicate long vowels: a, h, w, y.

The Beginner's Handbook to Biblical Hebrew and How the Hebrew Language Grew by Marks and Rodgers Horowitz likewise reports that the letters , , , and are "Hebrew vowel-consonants".

"Consonants are very frequently used to denote vowels: a Yod (Yod, a consonantal "y") can denote a long "i" or "e", a Waw (Waw, the consonant "v") can denote a "u" or "o", and if the word ends with a vowel that is not already denoted by a Yod, a Waw, or a final Alef, a He (He, the consonant "h") is appended to denote the vowel." SOURCE

"The yothe = y, he = h, and waw = w, which are used in YAHWEH’s Name are understood as being consonants which can be merged into vowels. Vowel sounds are spoken with the mouth open.

Fagnani and Davidson’s Hebrew Primer and Grammar states on page 10: The four letters a, h, w, y may lose their consonantal force and be merged into vowels.

There are three Hebrew Alphabets that have a permanently long sound in their pronunciation. Is it coincident that these three letters happen to be the Yôdh the Hë and the Wãw ? Also we know that the emphasis in Hebrew is most of the time on the last syllable, this would make the Name phonetically sound like:

E Yah ew Wáy. e a u a Long e, short a, long u, and long a.

(E like in in the letter 'e' but shorter and immediately joint to the next yah sounds like: yarn , ew like in: new, but less pronounced, more the phonetic 'w' sound immediately joined to , way just like: in hey)" SOURCES

All three of the four Hebrew letters of our Heavenly Father and Creators Name are indicated in the sources above along with one other Hebrew letter and are referred to as vowels, semi-vowels or consonant-vowels. These four Hebrew letters that make up the Name of our Heavenly Father and Creator are commonly referred to as the 'tetragram' or 'tetragrammaton' which are Greek words meaning, 'four letter word' or 'four letter name'. They are transliterated into the English language as YHWH/JHWH or YHVH/JHVH (the 'J' being a 'Y' sound as in HalleluYAH [Hallelujah] which means, 'Praise be to YAHWEH') and pronounced YAH'- way or YAH'-vey. Yahveh is a later Germanic transcription/transliteration/pronunciation and Yahweh is the more proper transcription/transliteration/pronunciation.

FOUR VOWELS

The Sacred Name Yahweh

HOW DO YOU KNOW What Vowels Are In YHWH?

The Name of God: Composed of Hebrew semi-vowels
The Name of God: What is It?

The KEY to THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE by Bill Burton
House of Steed

Why is 'w' pronounced 'double u' rather than 'double v', and what is the origins of this letter?

English uses the Latin alphabet of the Romans. However, this had no letter suitable for representing the phoneme /w/ which was used in Old English, though phonetically the sound represented by /v/ was quite close. In the 7th century scribes wrote uu for /w/; later they used the runic symbols known as wynn. European scribes had continued to write uu, and this usage returned to England with the Norman Conquest in 1066. Early printers sometimes used vv for lack of a w in their type. The name double-u recalls the former identity of u and v, which is also evident in a number of cognate words (flour/flower, guard/ward, suede/Swede, etc.). Oxford Companion to the English Language

Yahweh's Name In Our Breath (excerpt from Christianity UNMASQUED)

What are the Hebrew Vowels?
Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Yahweh's Name In The Dead Sea Scrolls

Is

A Forgery? Pastor Reckart believes this to be true!
Notice the difference in the style of the script to that of the context. I tend to believe with many others who explain this as the Name carried over in Paleo (Ancient) Hebrew script because of reverence for the Name. This also could be the Name restored to these manuscripts by later scribes using Paleo-Hebrew characters. Many historical sources have made mention of the disuse of the Name.

Sacred Name Study by:

Cohen G. Reckart, Pastor of
Jesus Messiah Fellowship

300 Dead Sea Scroll Links

Tetragrammaton Found in Earliest Copies of the Septuagint

YAHWEH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER'S SET-APART NAME
THE IMPORTANCE OF HIS NAMES?

The Tetragrammaton (Greek: τετραγράμματον word with four letters) is the Hebrew name for God, which is spelled (in Hebrew); י (yod) ה (heh) ו (waw) ה (heh) or יהוה (YHWH), it is the distinctive personal name of the God of Israel.

Of all the names of God in the Old Testament, that which occurs most frequently is the Tetragrammaton, appearing 6,823 times according to the Jewish Encyclopedia. According to Biblica Hebraica and Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia, the original texts of the Hebrew Scriptures, written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, contain the Tetragrammaton 6,828 times. It is evident that the Tetragrammaton was used very extensively in original language, ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts. This indicates a much more personal reference to the special identity of the Almighty (as opposed to impersonal titles such as "God" or "Lord"), on the part of the Bible writers. Many Bible scholars view this as evidence that the Bible writers (and indeed, likely the ancient Hebrew and Israelite people) viewed the Name represented by the Tetragrammaton as very important, and commonly used it in their everyday speech and prayers. And, for those that believe the Bible was inspired by God, it shows how he felt about his own personal name.

In Judaism, the Tetragrammaton is the ineffable name of God, and is not pronounced. In reading aloud of the scripture or in prayer, it is replaced with "Adonai" ("my Lord"). Other written forms such as ד׳ or ה׳ are read as "Hashem" (The Name), for the same reason.

One theory regarding the Tetragammaton is that the Jewish taboo on its pronunciation was so strong that the original pronunciation may have been lost somewhere in the first millennium. Since then, many scholars (particularly Christians) have sought to reconstruct its original pronunciation. For example, circa 1518 Christian theologians introduced the pronunciation "Yehovah" , which is generally held to be grammatically implausible based on the written form יֱהוִֹה that was used to indicate to the reader of the Bible in Hebrew to pronounce it "Elohim" (אֱלהִׄם). The Tetragrammaton in the Bible provides more details on why Hebrew word [e.g. "Yehovih"] has precisely the same Hebrew vowel points as "Elohiym" has.

Meaning

According to one Jewish tradition, the Tetragrammaton is related to the causative form, the imperfect state, of the Hebrew verb הוה (ha·wah; become); meaning "He will cause to become" usually understood as "He causes to become". Compare the many Hebrew and Arabic personal names which are 3rd person singular imperfective verb forms starting with "y", e.g. Hebrew Yôsêph = Arabic Yazîd = "He [who] adds"; Arabic Yahyâ = "He [who] lives".

Another tradition regards the name as coming from three different verb forms sharing the same root YWH, the words HYH haya [היה]: "He was"; HWH howê [הוה]: "He is"; and YHYH w'yihiyê [יהיה]: "He will be". This is supposed to show that God is timeless. Other interpretations includes the name as meaning "I am the One Who Is." This can be seen in the traditional Jewish account of the "burning bush" commanding Moses to tell the sons of Israel that "I AM has sent you." (Exodus 3:13-14) Some suggest: "I AM the One I AM." This may also fit the interpretation as "He Causes to Become." Many scholars believe that the most proper meaning may be "He Brings Into Existence Whatever Exists".

Using consonants as semi-vowels

In Biblical Hebrew many of the vowels are not written or written ambiguously, and the vowel letters double as consonants (similar to the Latin use of V to indicate both U and V). See Matres lectionis for details. Therefore it is in general difficult to deduce how a word is pronounced from its spelling only, and the Tetragrammaton is a particularly bad example: all its letters are vowels. Thus, Josephus in Jewish Wars, chapter V, wrote, "... in which was engraven the sacred name: it consists of four vowels." For similar reasons, an appearance of the Tetragrammaton in ancient Egyptian records of the 13th Century BCE sheds no light on the original pronunciation.

Josephus's teaching that the sacred name "consists of four vowels" may be valid in a Hebrew text that has no vowel points, but in a Hebrew Text that has vowel points [e.g. a Masoretic Text], there are Biblical Hebrew grammar rules that do not allow an "initial yod" in a Hebrew word to be used as a vowel letter! The "Yod" in YHWH is an "initial yod".

Using the Vowels of YHWH

Josephus wrote that the sacred name consisted of four vowels. Many sacred name ministries who believe that YHWH consists of four vowels, pronounce these four vowels as “ee-ah-oo-eh” and believe that that indicates that God’s name was either “Yahweh” or “Yahuweh”. In an amazing coincidence, it can be demonstrated that the Greek name “ιαουε” can be pronounced “ee-ah-oo-eh”, using the same Greek pronunciation rules that James Strong used. Gerard Gertoux also believes that YHWH consists of four vowels, and that it must be vocalized either “Yeho-ah” or “Yehou-ah” [e.g. Yehua”].

Vowel marks

To make the reading of Hebrew easier, marks or points above and below the letters were added to the text by the Masoretes, to function as vowels. Several manuscripts from the 7th century and on contain vowel marks over the Tetragrammaton. Unfortunately, these do not shed much light on the pronunciation. For example the Leningrad codex contains no less than 6 different variations on the vowel marks of the Tetragrammaton.

An added problem comes from the fact that the vowel marks on the Tetragrammaton may have served purpose different from to indicate the pronunciation. When the term is read out loud by Jews, the Tetragrammaton is substituted with the word "Adonai" (my Lord) or "Hashem" (the name). Since someone reading the text aloud might inadvertently pronounce the name, the vowels of "Adonai" are normally printed with the Tetragrammaton, to remind the reader to make the change, so the text contains YHWH interlaced with the vowels of Adonai. This is the case in modern editions of the Hebrew bible, and also explains a number of medieval codices. In other words, these marks do not and were never intended to explain how to pronounce the Tetragrammaton.

In particular, this is a convincing explanation of the vowel marks on the Tetragrammaton in the Ben Chayim codex of 1525. An interesting point is that the aleph in Adonai has a hataf-patah (pronounce a) while the yod in the tetragrammaton has a shva (pronounce e). This can be partially explained by rules of Hebrew grammar, which forbid hataf-patah under Yod. 5 See photos [1] [2]

In English

The first English transcription of the Tetragrammaton appeared on the title page of William Tyndale's translation of 1525 as "IEHOUAH." Subsequent translations into English, including Miles Coverdale's (1535), the Great Bible (1539), The Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishop's Bible (1568), and the Authorized Version of 1611, also used IEHOUAH in several places, while most translations substitute the title THE LORD in place of the Tetragrammaton. Some argue that this practice reflects the Jewish tradition that it is forbidden to say the name of God. Many modern Christian translations of the Bible continue to use THE LORD (in small caps); two notable exceptions are the American Standard Version (1901) which used Jehovah throughout the text, and The Jerusalem Bible (1966) which used Yahweh similarly.

It is likely that Tyndale's IEHOUAH comes from an interlace of YHWH and the vowels of Adonai as explained above, but it is difficult to substantiate this claim since we do not know which codex he used for his translation. The King James Version's IEHOUAH was definitely influenced by the Ben Chayim codex, which was the source used for the translation. The spelling Jehovah appeared first during the 1762-1769 editing of the King James Bible. Hence there is a certain basis to the claim that the transcription Jehovah is nothing but a misunderstanding by Christian translators of Jewish reading traditions. As of 2005, this is still the most common spelling of the Tetragrammaton in English.

In contrast, there are various arguments why Jehovah actually is the original pronunciation. For example, other transcribed names in the Bible containing portions of the name such as: Jeho-ram and Jeho-shaphat give linguistic support of this transcription. This point of view is occasionally associated with believers in the "King James Version Only" point of view. Recently Gerhard Gertoux advanced the pronunciation Yehowah and has gained a certain following.

Transcription In Other Languages

Table of different language transcriptions of the tetragrammaton. (If the native language uses non-European characters or pictographic symbols, the table shows the common English/European translation of the target language script):

Awabakal	Yehóa	Narrinyeri	Jehovah
Bugotu	Jihova	Nembe	Jihova
Cantonese	Yehwowah	Petats	Jihouva
Danish	Jehova	Polish	Jehowa
Dutch	Jehovah	Portuguese	Jeová
Efik	Jehovah	Romanian	Iehova
English	Jehovah	Samoan	Ieova
Fijiian	Jiova	Sotho	Jehova
Finnish	Jehova	Spanish	Jehová
French	Jéhovah	Swahili	Yehova
Futuna	Ihovah	Swedish	Jehova
German	Jehova	Tahitian	Jehovah
Hungarian	Jehova	Tagalog	Jehova
Igbo	Jehova	Tongan	Jihova
Italian	Geova	Venda	Yehova
Japanese	Ehoba	Xhosa	u Yehova
Maori	Ihowa	Yoruba	Jehofah
Motu	Iehova	Zulu	u Jehova

Reconstructed pronunciation

The variation Yahweh appeared in the early and mid 19th century. It is sometimes referred to as a "Scholarly Reconstruction" and is based in large part on various Greek transcriptions (ιαουε - iaoue and ιαουαι - iaouai and ιαβε - iabe) dating from the first centuries BCE and AD. Particularly cited is Clement of Alexandria's spelling of the Tetragrammaton in his Stromata.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 says: “Inserting the vowels of Jabe [e.g. Latin form of Iabe] into the Hebrew consonant text, we obtain the form Jahveh (Yahweh), which has been generally accepted by modern scholars as the true pronunciation of the Divine name.” Some scholars suggested that the Josephus quote above supports this pronunciation. Arguments based on possible interpretations, and on analogies with other Hebrew words, such as hallelujah, have also been introduced to support it.

Despite the work at reconstruction, it is still impossible to say with certainty how the name was originally pronounced, and discussion continues among scholars.

Scholarly Sources in which "יַהְוֶה" is found

The vowelized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton shown below: "יַהְוֶה" started to appear in scholarly sources in the 19th century, or possibly earlier: "יַהְוֶה" was not the only vowelized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton that appeared in scholarly sources in the 19th century, but gradually it became accepted as the best reconstruction of the vowelized Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton. Smith's " A Dictionary of the Bible" [published in 1863] notes that Wilhelm Gesenius, who is noted for being one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars, punctuated YHWH as "יַהְוֶה". Wilhelm Gesenius wrote a Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament which was first translated into English in 1824. In 1863, Smith's "A Dictionary of the Bible" does not consider "יַהְוֶה" to be the best vowelised Hebrew spelling of the Tetragrammaton, of which it is aware of. The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown and S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs shows "יַהְוֶה" under the heading "יהוה" "יַהְוֶה" is found in the online Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906, under the article: "NAMES OF GOD" and under the article sub heading: "YHWH". The Jewish Encyclopedia recognizes that "יַהְוֶה" is spelled "Yahweh" in English, but "יַהְוֶה" is only one of two vowelized Hebrew spellings, that they believe might have been the original pronunciation of YHWH.

Jewish use of the word

In Judaism, pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton is a taboo; it is widely considered forbidden to utter it and the pronunciation of the name is generally avoided. As noted above, "Adonai" is used as a substitute in prayers or readings from the Hebrew Bible.

According to Rabbinic tradition, the name was pronounced by the high priest on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the only day when the Holy of Holies of the Temple would be entered. With the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, this use also vanished, also explaining the "loss" of the correct pronunciation.

The name Adonai (The Lord) has come to be so connected with the Tetragrammaton that even this word has restrictions among pious Jews. It is only used in prayer and Bible readings, or instructions of those subjects. When many religious Jews refer to the name of God in conversation or in a non-textual context such as in a book, newspaper or letter, they call the name Hashem which means simply "The Name".

Thus, except for a small number of Kabbalists and Karaite Jews, no one claims to know with absolute certainty just how it was pronounced — the only generally accepted fact is that the last Heh in YHWH is silent. In the end, it is impossible to state definitively how it was pronounced.

Popular culture

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

In the motion picture Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the lead character must cross a room of lettered tiles. To step on the wrong letter would trigger a deadly trap. An ancient Latin manuscript provides a clue to safe passage: he must walk in a sequence that will spell out "the name of God." He remembers not a moment too soon that "in the Latin alphabet, 'Jehovah' begins with an 'I.'"

In the film Equilibrium, a dystopic view of the future in which the government mandates that all individuals take psychiatric medications to suppress feeling, the agency responsible for policing the state is known as the Tetragrammaton.

In Pi, a group of kabbalistic Jews looking for the true name of God enlist the help of a mathematician to analyze the Torah.

The Tetragrammaton features extensively in Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco.

Footnotes

1. Galatin, Peter - De Arcanis Catholicæ Veritatis, 1518, folio xliii
2. See pages 128 and 236 of the book "Who Were the Early Israelites?" by archeologist William G. Dever, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003.
3. “ιαουε” is pronounced ee-ah-oo-eh
4. Gerard Gertoux explains to JW BERT why JHW-H must be vocalized Yeho-ah or Yehou-ah.
5. Grammar rules forbid placing a hataf-patah (also referred to as a chateph-patach) under a Yod.
6. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910- sub-heading : “To take up the ancient writers”.
7. Smith's "A Dictionary of the Bible"
8. Wilhelm Gesenius is noted for being one of the greatest Hebrew and biblical scholars.
9. Wilhelm Gesenius' Hebrew Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament was first translated into English in 1824.
10. The online Jewish Encyclopedia of 1901-1906

"YAHWEH", THE NAME ABOVE All Other Names

Accept No Substitutes!

Let The TRUTH Be KNOWN ! The name JEZUS is a SUBSTITUTE for the TRUE NAME of YAHWEH'S Anointed Son,