The Significant Name of God (14)
The myth of the missing vowels
André H. Roosma
7 June 2020 (NL original: 8 Oct. 2015)
The glorious Name of God, יהוה - YaHUaH
1 consists of four letters in Hebrew. The theory often taught is that
the Hebrew ’aleph-bet consists only of consonants, and that the
original Hebrew script had no vowels. Therefore, it is also thought that
God’s glorious Name consists of consonants only, and thus, the
glorious Name is usually transliterated (that is, in this
case: transferred letter by letter to our alphabet) as YHWH.
However, the theory that the oldest Hebrew script knew only consonants is
a myth. It is based on the fact that people have not looked back far enough
and have reasoned on the false assumption that a sign represents either a
vowel or a consonant. The most ancient script, from which the Paleo-Hebrew
’aleph-bet is derived, was a script where each sign represented
a consonant and a vowel. I am referring here to the collection of
characters that appear on West Semitic inscriptions excavated near Byblos.
One of the scientists who has made a very in-depth study of the various
excavated West Semitic inscriptions from the second millennium BC (or even before) speaks of the oldest form as a logo
syllabary (i.e. of which the characters can represent
either a whole word (logos) or a syllable).2
It is well known among scientists who study the historical development of
languages (historical linguists or whatever you want to
call them) that older aspects of a language have often been better
preserved in historical names than in other words. So in this situation it is
good, to especially look at old Biblical names. And there too, we see the
use of letters as vowels or as a combination of a vowel and a consonant,
ever since ancient times. Some examples:
- יה - YaH or IaH =
  =
Ia/Ya + ah contracted to YaH, the short Name of God;
- אדם - ’Adam =
   = ’A - da - mu (the final -u was common in the older East Semitic and
probably is original; when we change that ending to the feminine form, we get
the word ’a - da - m - ah = earth; often considered in parallel
as primal mother / matriarch);
- חוה - Chuah =
  =
Ch - u - ah (according to the Jewish
explanation: Cha - ww - ah, but regarding early transliterations into
other languages, it must have been Chuah) = Eve;
- שמואל -
Shemu’el =
  = she - m - u - ’e - l = Samuel;
- רות - Rut =
  = R - u - t
(see ‘Namen in
de Bijbel (3)’ on the Dutch sister-site);
- יונה - Jonah =
 = J - u/o - n - ah;
- חורי - Chori of Churi = = Ch - u/o - r -
i;
- אליהוא - ’Elihu = = ’E - l - i - h - u - ’;
- אהוד - ’Ehud = = ’E - h - u - d;
- דינה - Dinah = =
D - i - n - ah.
In these names the use of the ו wav as
vowel u (oo), the י yod as vowel i, and the
ה he as combination ah are
particularly striking. So, even from the earliest phase of Hebrew, these
letters had a function as a vowel as well, or as a vowel-consonant
combination.
Against the background of the above, it is not surprising that Josephus,
a high priest from the first century of our era, told us very clearly that
the glorious Name consisted not of four consonants, but of four
vowels.3 So, to pronounce the glorious Name of the God of
Israel, we do not need to add any vowels at all anymore!
Also in the Talmud – in which the authors want to urge us to not
pronounce the glorious Name – we find the note that the glorious
Name may not be pronounced according to its own letters. This also
implies that pronunciation is possible without adding additional vowels,
although the Talmud-writers considered this as undesirable.
So, which four vowels are the ones involved? Well, as we saw above, the
four Hebrew characters constituting The Name have these significations as
vowels: י = i, ה = a, usually with an h-sound added, so: ah,
ו = u (oo) and again ה = ah. The pronounciation
then becomes I-ah-oo-ah, often written as YaHUaH.
Hallelu YaHUaH !
Notes
| 1 |
The names in the Bible have meaning. That is why I
transliterate them carefully so that they remain recognizable. Especially
the glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately as possible from the
oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand personal Name of The
Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more background information
see:
André H. Roosma, ‘The
wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who
will be there’  , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009. |
| 2 |
See a.o. these artiles by Brian E. Colless:
‘The Origin of the Alphabet: An Examination of the
Goldwasser Hypothesis’, Antiguo Oriente, Vol.12, 2014; ISSN
1667-9202; p.71–104. A recent and extensive article about it.
‘Recent Discoveries Illuminating the Origin of the Alphabet’,
Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Vol.26, 1988; p.30-67.
‘Proto-Alphabetic Inscriptions from the Wadi Arabah’ ,
Antiguo Oriente, Vol.8, 2010; ISSN 1667-9202; p.75-96. |
| 3 |
Josephus wrote: “A mitre also of fine linen
encompassed his head, which was tied by a blue ribbon, about which there was
another golden crown, in which was engraven the sacred name [of God]: it
consists of four vowels (φωνήεντα τέσσαρα -
phoneënta tessara).” (Wars of the Jews, Book 5,
Ch.5, pt.7). |
|
