Jehovah vs Yahweh

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

That's the generally agreed upon theory.

From what I can tell based on what I've read and through my cursory looking around, is that the oldest attested use of "Jehovah" is from the 13th century, where we find the use of Iehoua in Latin, and Anglicized by William Tyndale as Iehouah. With the advent of 'J' and standardizing and differentiating 'U' and 'V' gives us with the modern Anglicized "Jehovah".

And it's true, if we take the letters of the Tetragrammaton and use the niqqud for Adonai, we get Ye*HoVaH, which would be Latinized as Iehoua/Iehova.

*The vowelization of the niqqud here would be an "a" sound following a glottal consonant, which is the case for Adonai; but an "e" for other consnants, such as the Yod in the Tetragrammaton. Thus YeHoVaH rather than YaHoVaH.

Jehovah - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

-CryptoLutheran

That would be really strange since the Hebrew theophoric prefixes and suffixes in names occurred LONG before the 13th century lol...

 

[Ordinary Christian]

I AM , aka YHWH, is the name given to reveal His eternal nature. Jehovah is the same in Latin. Blessings.

Except in the Latin alphabet it starts with "I" not "J".

I remember that from Indiana Jones.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Except in the Latin alphabet it starts with "I" not "J".

I remember that from Indiana Jones.

The Latin Vulgate Bible was written in Classical Latin, which did not have the letter J. The letter J was added to the Latin alphabet in the Middle Ages.

 

[ViaCrucis]

That would be really strange since the Hebrew theophoric prefixes and suffixes in names occurred LONG before the 13th century lol...

Well, yes, of course they did.

I'm unsure how those theophoric prefixes/suffixes relate to the matter of the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton as Iehova. Yes, we see Yeho and Yo as common theophoric prefixes, and Yah and Yahu as suffixes. But we don't see "Yehovah" except in western medieval and later works.

That said, I'd be fully interested in sources that run contrary to that. What sources would you recommend I look at?

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Well, yes, of course they did.

I'm unsure how those theophoric prefixes/suffixes relate to the matter of the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton as Iehova. Yes, we see Yeho and Yo as common theophoric prefixes, and Yah and Yahu as suffixes. But we don't see "Yehovah" except in western medieval and later works.

That said, I'd be fully interested in sources that run contrary to that. What sources would you recommend I look at?

-CryptoLutheran

Well because YeHo prefix comes from??? YaH is a poetic abbreviation. WAY before the 13th Century Also ever hear "Shem HaMeforash"? Shem is "Name". Look at the vowels of Meforash...these were hints

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

What are your thoughts on the two names of God? I always thought "Jehovah" was the mistranslation of YHWH, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong. There is no J in Hebrew.

YHWH is a transliteration of יהוה (read the Hebrew letters right to left). Yahweh is the current favoured pronunciation of the letters, Jehovah (read like a German would pronounce it) is a much older preferred pronunciation (it sounds more like Yahowah in German), it is a three syllable name whereas Yahweh is two syllables. The LORD is a translation of the name, it is something of a substitution too, since YHWH does not mean "the Lord", it means "I am that I am" or something similar. For Christians "the Lord" is a good choice because it is what Christians have used through the ages until now.

 

[RileyG]

YHWH is a transliteration of יהוה (read the Hebrew letters right to left). Yahweh is the current favoured pronunciation of the letters, Jehovah (read like a German would pronounce it) is a much older preferred pronunciation (it sounds more like Yahowah in German), it is a three syllable name whereas Yahweh is two syllables. The LORD is a translation of the name, it is something of a substitution too, since YHWH does not mean "the Lord", it means "I am that I am" or something similar. For Christians "the Lord" is a good choice because it is what Christian have used through the ages until now.

Thanks.

 

[RileyG]

HaShem means the name.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Even Dr Brown agrees with me

 

[Arctangent]

Aa far as I can tell, "Jehovah" gets the "v" correct, as well as the fact that there are three syllables, while "Yahweh" gets the "Y" correct.

I don't remember where I heard this, but I had heard somewhere that the word "Adonai" preserves the vowel sounds of "YHVH", making it something "Yahovaih". But I have absolutely no idea how legitimate that is.

 

[RileyG]

Aa far as I can tell, "Jehovah" gets the "v" correct, as well as the fact that there are three syllables, while "Yahweh" gets the "Y" correct.

I don't remember where I heard this, but I had heard somewhere that the word "Adonai" preserves the vowel sounds of "YHVH", making it something "Yahovaih". But I have absolutely no idea how legitimate that is.

I think all I was taught is "Adonai" simply means "Lord."

 

[CoreyD]

What are your thoughts on the two names of God? I always thought "Jehovah" was the mistranslation of YHWH, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong. There is no J in Hebrew.

Jehovah is English, as is Jesus, Jeremiah, Joshua, Jehoash, and so on.
Yahweh is Hebrew, as is Yehoshua, Yirmeyahu, etc.

Yeshua (ישוע; with vowel pointing Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, romanized: Yēšūaʿ) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua (Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, romanized: Yəhōšūaʿ, lit. 'Joshua')

 

[RileyG]

Jehovah is English, as is Jesus, Jeremiah, Joshua, Jehoash, and so on.
Yahweh is Hebrew, as is Yehoshua, Yirmeyahu, etc.

Yeshua (ישוע; with vowel pointing Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, romanized: Yēšūaʿ) was a common alternative form of the name Yehoshua (Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, romanized: Yəhōšūaʿ, lit. 'Joshua')

It's my understanding Jesus is the Greek name for Joshua. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[CoreyD]

It's my understanding Jesus is the Greek name for Joshua. Correct me if i'm wrong.

The Greeks would probably feed you to the crocodiles, if you used an English word, as a Greek name.

Jesus (name) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

It's my understanding Jesus is the Greek name for Joshua. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Iesous

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Yahweh is Hebrew

No, it is not Hebrew...

 

[ViaCrucis]

It's my understanding Jesus is the Greek name for Joshua. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Jesus is based on the Greek transliteration of His name, Ἰησοῦς (Iesous) through Latin (Iesus -> Jesus). Joshua is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ (Yehoshua) while the short form of that same Hebrew name (יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua) is transliterated as Jeshua.

There are a number of variations of this name in Aramaic, and there is debate over precisely how His name would have been pronounced, Yeshu' is probably close to correct, based on historical studies of the form of Aramaic spoken in Galilee.

But in any case, there was a standardized way of transliterating this name into Greek as Ἰησοῦς, which is why Joshua (Yehoshua) the son of Nun is written as Ἰησοῦς in the Septuagint, same with Jeshua (Yeshua) the high priest in Zechariah. So this name, whether in its Hebrew forms or Aramaic pronunciations is consistently rendered as Ἰησοῦς in Greek. And from Greek into Latin this becomes Iesus, and later Jesus (where 'j' began as an alternate form of 'i', and in English took on a harder sound through French influence--compare English "justice" with Latin "iustus" or think about how 'j' is pronounced in some other Romance languages like Spanish).

So Aramaic ישוע becomes Greek Ἰησοῦς, which became Latin Iesus, which became English Jesus.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[RandyPNW]

Iesous

Yes, we should identify a person by a person's name using the language that our culture speaks in. Each culture may pronounce names slightly differently.

In the case of Hebrew names we are bit hamstrung because of the lack of vowels and direct knowledge of the pronunciation. As well, there is concern about disrespecting the name of God by trying to "pigeon-hole" Him with our sense of what His name should sound like.

I personally think God was never concerned with mispronunciation of His name--only with how we view His name, as holy and divine. "I Am" was a declaration that Deity exists in the form Moses saw Him. That's all.

It is the basis of Christian faith, as well. We believe He exists in the form of Jesus the Son, who defines what God is like for us on behalf of our redemption from sin. How we pronounce the name of Jesus can become a distraction. But it is a reasonable question nonetheless.

 

[RileyG]

Jesus is based on the Greek transliteration of His name, Ἰησοῦς (Iesous) through Latin (Iesus -> Jesus). Joshua is the English transliteration of the Hebrew name יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ (Yehoshua) while the short form of that same Hebrew name (יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua) is transliterated as Jeshua.

There are a number of variations of this name in Aramaic, and there is debate over precisely how His name would have been pronounced, Yeshu' is probably close to correct, based on historical studies of the form of Aramaic spoken in Galilee.

But in any case, there was a standardized way of transliterating this name into Greek as Ἰησοῦς, which is why Joshua (Yehoshua) the son of Nun is written as Ἰησοῦς in the Septuagint, same with Jeshua (Yeshua) the high priest in Zechariah. So this name, whether in its Hebrew forms or Aramaic pronunciations is consistently rendered as Ἰησοῦς in Greek. And from Greek into Latin this becomes Iesus, and later Jesus (where 'j' began as an alternate form of 'i', and in English took on a harder sound through French influence--compare English "justice" with Latin "iustus" or think about how 'j' is pronounced in some other Romance languages like Spanish).

So Aramaic ישוע becomes Greek Ἰησοῦς, which became Latin Iesus, which became English Jesus.

-CryptoLutheran

Thank you for the information!

 

[CoreyD]

No, it is not Hebrew...

Okay, thanks. I must do more research.
It's said to be the closest or more accurate transliteration, and most favored by Hebrew scholars.
I suppose because it preserves the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton. YaHWeH, or YaHVeH.