Hebrew vowels (horribly OT)

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_rubberducky.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:18:30 -0700

malk_at_malkavius.com wrote:
>
> In its most ancient form, no, which is why no one really knows whether
> YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah, as the Name was never
> spoken, but at some point (not sure when), marks often referred to as
> "jots and tiddles" were added to the classical letters, to provide a
> guide to vowel sounds. So my old A Level RE teacher told me anyway.

Actually, the vowel marks in the word YHWH aren't for the name itself, but rather, the vowel marks for the word "Adonai" ("Lord")--a reminder to the reader that when he comes to the word "YHWH", he should say "Adonai" instead. (That's what's done, for example, in Torah reading and prayers.)

As I understand it, a medieval Christian scholar saw the four-letter word YHWH, with the vocalization marks for "Adonai", and mistakenly thought that they were the vowels for the Name itself. As a result, he pronounced it "Yehowah", and that's where the name "Jehovah" comes from.

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