Tetragrammaton
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- This article is about the literary manifestations of the name of God in Hebrew. For other attributes of the name of God, see Yahweh, God in Judaism, and God in Abrahamic religions.
Tetragrammaton (from the Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "[a word] having four letters")[1] refers to the Hebrew term יהוה, the name of God depicted in the Bible.
יהוה is composed of four Hebrew consonants, and it occurs 6,828 times in the approved consonantal Hebrew text of the Bible.[2][3]
The letters, properly read from right to left (in Biblical Hebrew), are:
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Hebrew Letter name Pronunciation י Yodh "Y" ה He "H" ו Waw "W" or placeholder for "O"/"U" vowel (see mater lectionis) ה He "H" (or, usually, silent at the ends of words)
These four letters are usually transliterated from Hebrew as IHVH in Latin, JHWH in German, French and Dutch, and JHVH/YHWH in English. This has been variously rendered as "Yahweh" or even occasionally as "Jehovah", based on the Latin form of the term.[4], while the Hebrew text does not clearly indicate the omitted vowels. In English translations, it is often rendered in capital and small capital letters as "the LORD", following Jewish tradition which reads the word as "Adonai" ("Lord") out of respect for the name of God and the interpretation of the commandment not to take the name of God in vain. The word "haŠem" 'the Name' is also used in Jewish contexts; in Samaritan, "Šemå" is the normal substitution.
See "Historical overview" at Yahweh and Jehovah.
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[edit] Pronunciation
For views on the pronunciation of the name, see the main article, Yahweh.
[edit] Occurrences and uses
The Tetragrammaton occurs 6,828 times in the Hebrew text of both the Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.[3] It does not appear in the Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, or Esther. It first appears in the Hebrew text in Genesis 2:4.
[edit] The Leningrad Codex of 1008-1010 A.D.
Vowel points were added to the Tetragrammaton by the Masoretes, in the first millennium A.D.
Six Hebrew spellings of the Tetragrammaton are found in:
The Leningrad Codex of 1008-1010 A.D. [1] as shown below (note that the entries in the transliteration column are not intended to indicate how the name was intended to be pronounced by the Masoretes, but only how the word would be pronounced if read without q're perpetuum):
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Explanation |
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This is the most common set of vowels, which are essentially the vowels from Adonai (with the hataf patah reverting to its natural state as a shwa). |
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This is the same as above, but with the dagesh over the holam/waw left out, because it is a little redundant. |
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When the Tetragrammaton is preceded by Adonai, it receives the vowels from the name Elohim instead. The hataf segol does not revert to a shwa because doing so could lead to confusion with the vowels in Adonai. |
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Just as above, this uses the vowels from Elohim, but like the second version, the dagesh over the holam/waw is omitted as redundant. |
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Here, the dagesh over the holam/waw is present, but the hataf segol does get reverted to a shwa. |
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Here, the dagesh over the holam/waw is omitted, and the hataf segol gets reverted to a shwa. |
ĕ is hatef segol; ǝ is the pronounced form of plain shewa
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ It originates from tetra "four" + gramma (gen. grammatos) "letter". Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^ The Bible translator. vol. 56. United Bible Societies. 2005. p. 71.; Nelson's expository dictionary of the Old Testament. Merrill Frederick Unger, William White. 1980. p. 229.
- ^ a b "Importance of the Name". Insight on the Scriptures. vol. 2. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. 1988. p. 8.
- ^ In the Latin alphabet there was no distinct lettering to distinguish 'Y' ('I') from 'J', or 'W' from 'V'.
[edit] External links
Media related to Tetragrammaton at Wikimedia Commons
"Tetragrammaton". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
