[B-Greek] YHWH into Greek
Rolf Furuli
furuli at online.no
Mon Dec 5 18:04:42 EST 2005
Dear Gene,
The name YHWH is written in three different ways in fragments of the LXX and
LXX-like texts from B.C.E. and up to 50 C.E. We find it in old Hebrew
characters, in square Aramaic script, and in Greek letters, as the phonetic
transcription IAW. Attempts have been made to distinguish between the
different forms on a diachronic basis, but this has been very difficult. The
fact that the Syriac letters letters HEHE and PIPI often occur in the
marigins of Syro-Hexapla manuscripts suggests that Greek manuscripts both
with old Hebrew characters and square Aramaic script existed when the Syriac
Peshitta was made (HEHE probably comes from the old Hebrew characters and
PIPI from the square Aramaic script).
There is no way to know how the name was pronounced, but the theophoric
names in the Hebrew Bible suggests that it had three syllables rather than
two. If this is true, the last "H" of YHWH may be a plene written vowel, and
this would mean that the name could be adequately expressed by the three
consonants YHW. Writings from the fifth century B.C.E. from the Elephantine
island in the Nile delta show that Aramaic-speaking persons at that time
worshiped YHW. This may be the form from which the phonetic transcription
IAW is taken (since Greek lacks middle H). Thus, IAW probably represents the
full form of the name rather than being an abbreviation.
Best regards
Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Gardner" <g_gardner1234 at yahoo.com>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 10:05 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] YHWH into Greek
> Is there anyone on the list, who has researched the various ways that YHWH
> was written in the Greek Language?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Gene
>
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