Proper Pronunciation of God's Name

Henry Adams
Henry Adams Member Posts: 40 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

Would any of you know of any Logos works that cover the pronunciation of the name of God and its history? I'm especially I'm interested in YHWH and the explanation of the pronunciation Yah-vey vs. Yah-way. And where did Jehovah come in?

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  • Sean Boisen
    Sean Boisen Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,452

    Would any of you know of any Logos works that cover the pronunciation of the name of God and its history? I'm especially I'm interested in YHWH and the explanation of the pronunciation Yah-vey vs. Yah-way. And where did Jehovah come in?

    I got quite a few hits across numerous resources for Basic Search of Everything for "yahweh NEAR pronunciation".

  • Dave Hooton
    Dave Hooton MVP Posts: 36,012

    I performed a search of All Resources for  Jehovah NEAR latin* as that name is a Latinization. But you could just search for YHWH. One resource is "All the people in the Bible" by R Losch. Also, bible dictionaries like ISBE, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible.

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  • Randy W. Sims
    Randy W. Sims Member Posts: 2,272 ✭✭✭

    You might also try a search for "Tetragrammaton" or "Hashem".

  • Henry Adams
    Henry Adams Member Posts: 40 ✭✭

    Thank you. That was a very helpful search! I've finished reviewing all the resources I have, but have the question concerning the pronunciation of the "W" in YHWH. What kind of search can I do to zoom in on the pronunciation, whether like the English "V" or the English "W".

      Most scholars have accepted the W-sound, but I'm interested in reviewing their notes on how the point was settled upon, since the letter sounds like an English "V" when going over the mere pronunciation of the letters.

      I wasn't able to find anything in all the studies I've reviewed on that, aimedly.

  • Henry Adams
    Henry Adams Member Posts: 40 ✭✭

    When I did a search for "Hashem" the system showed me everything about the sons of Hashem the Gizonite :-)

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 33,013

    When I did a search for "Hashem" the system showed me everything about the sons of Hashem the Gizonite :-)

    Searching for "hashem NEAR god" should provide a more focused set of results

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

      Most scholars have accepted the W-sound, but I'm interested in reviewing their notes on how the point was settled upon, since the letter sounds like an English "V" when going over the mere pronunciation of the letters.

    I tried yahweh NEAR pronunciation NEAR (V OR W), which didn't yield much, but (by fluke) directed me to the JPS Torah Commentary on Deuteronomy, which says: "YHVH was probably pronounced Yahweh (in biblical times the vav was pronounced like English ‘w’)."

    pronunc* NEAR (vav OR waw) gets you few useful hits mixed in with a lot of noise. The most detailed was a long discussion in Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew: An Introduction.

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  • David Thomas
    David Thomas Member Posts: 3,272 ✭✭✭

      Most scholars have accepted the W-sound, but I'm interested in reviewing their notes on how the point was settled upon, since the letter sounds like an English "V" when going over the mere pronunciation of the letters.

    You must consider the difference between Modern Hebrew (vav) and Ancient Hebrew (waw). The best explanation I have heard is that following the diaspora many descendants of Abraham relocated throughout the Roman Empire where the Latin (and Germanic/Yiddish) influence changed the W to V so that in the late 19th century when Hebrew began to re-emerge, a new pronunciation began to dominate when Israel was re-established as a nation. This is simplistic, but can be seen in other languages such as Old/middle/current English.

    Linguists may give a more precise explanation, but this satisfies my curiosity.

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