IAW = IAO, IAWE = IAVE

GregStffrd at aol.com GregStffrd at aol.com
Tue Feb 20 15:52:06 EST 2001


In a message dated 02/20/2001 7:58:41 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
eacuna at mail.giga.com writes:

<< My opinion is that the use of IAW as a phonetic translation which do not
 correspond to the Tetragrammaton is the proof of wrongdoing; because it
 does not correspond to the four consonantal form. >>

And:

<< What I wrote was that 4QLXXLevb translates YHWH as IAW, which is the greek
transliteration of the phonetic transcription IAO, an inverse (i.e.,
magic) substitution of the incomplete vowels of ADONAI:IANODA. >>


Dear Eduardo:

I appreciate your acknowledge about your mistake concerning the dating of 
P.Mich (193). It happens. 

I think, however, your style of writing gave the impression that you believed 
the Jewish use of IAW was influenced by the use in the magical papyri, hence, 
your dating of P.Mich approx. 600 years earlier than it should have been.

Now, regarding your above comments, the fact is that YH and YHW are known 
forms of the divine name in use in early times. These correspond quite 
remarkably to IA and IAW. Since you are concerned with whether or not these 
correspond to the tetragrammaton and I am pointing out that they correspond 
to the early trigrammaton and digrammaton, we are speaking past each other. 

As for the vowels from ADONAI, the fact remains that IAW does NOT employ the 
vowels from this term. So I cannot accept your explanation. I never said, nor 
has Rolf, that IAW translates the tetragrammaton; rather, we both made it 
clear that it corresponds to an early form of the divine name, namely, YHW, 
which was evidently popular enough in Jewish circles to be included in the 
LXX as a Greek form of the divine name, rather than the paleo-Hebrew and 
Aramaic forms we find in other mss. 

Unless there is something else you would like to add in relation to the Greek 
forms of the name, I will cease participation in this thread. 

By the way, I happen to agree with you that Yahweh is not an accurate 
representation of Jewish usage. Indeed, the form IABE that is usually cited 
as a basis for this form is the reported Samaritan pronunciation, not the 
Jewish pronunciation, as the references I previously gave reveal. 

Best regards,

Greg Stafford



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