Yahweh (YHWH) or Yahveh (YHVH)

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ServantofChristos

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I’ve been researching the Tetragrammaton, I find it to be a very interesting topic. I found that the Tetragrammaton is sometimes YHWH or YHVH, many Hebrew websites that write about the Tetragrammaton always use YHVH since they claim that there is no “w” sound in Hebrew. If there was no “w” sound in Hebrew why is YHWH used more?
Many scholars claim that “Yahweh” is most likely the name of The Lord, but if there’s no “w” sound in Hebrew wouldn’t it be “Yahveh?”
Some people in The Sacred Name Movement have come up with: Yahvah, Yah, Yahowah, Yahuwah, Yehovah, Yehowah, Yahudah, Ahayah Ashar Ahayah, and much more.
I’m not apart of The Sacred Name Movement, but I would like to know God the Father’s name, the one He gave to Moses (Exodus 6:3).
What are your thoughts on this?
God bless. (Please be kind in the comment section)
 
It is forbidden for Jews to say the name, which is considered to be unpronounceable. Pope Benedict XVI asked bible publishers to replace Yahweh with “Lord”, which is entirely appropriate.
 
In the Hebrew Bible, God’s personal name occurs over 7,000 times, The Lord gave us His name, He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him. Over and over again He tells us to call upon His name, praise His name, pray in His name, bless in His name, love His name, and proclaim His name to all nations.
 
The problem comes in translation. In the Hebrew alphabet, there are no vowels. Vowel sounds are indicated by “dots” near the letters. So the difference between the format (YHWY of Yahweh) using English alphabet is either the vowels are omitted or the vowels are added. The difference between YHWH or YHVH has to do with the phonetic sounds, as you have suggested.

Not a problem, because in Catholic Liturgy, when proclaiming the Word from the Old Testament, we more commonly use LORD, and have been directed to refrain from the use of YHWH, Yahweh, YHVH, or Yahveh, out of respect for our Jewish brothers and sisters.
 
ServantofChristos said:
I’ve been researching the Tetragrammaton, I find it to be a very interesting topic. I found that the Tetragrammaton is sometimes YHWH or YHVH, many Hebrew websites that write about the Tetragrammaton always use YHVH since they claim that there is no “w” sound in Hebrew. If there was no “w” sound in Hebrew why is YHWH used more?
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Because that’s the closest we have in English to approximating that sound.
Many scholars claim that “Yahweh” is most likely the name of The Lord, but if there’s no “w” sound in Hebrew wouldn’t it be “Yahveh?”
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It can be. In either case, it’s a transliteration to English. Hebrew doesn’t have an a or an e either. Technically speaking, it doesn’t have a Y or h either.
Some people in The Sacred Name Movement have come up with: Yahvah, Yah, Yahowah, Yahuwah, Yehovah, Yehowah, Yahudah, Ahayah Ashar Ahayah, and much more.
I’m not apart of The Sacred Name Movement, but I would like to know God the Father’s name, the one He gave to Moses (Exodus 6:3).
What are your thoughts on this?
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A lot of people like to get technical and complicate matters. There are the people who claim that Jesus is wrong. It should be, Joshua, they say. Others say, Yeshua. And there are other people insisting it is something else.

The fact of the matter is that they are all transliterations to English. None of them are pronounced exactly correct. But the intent is the same. It’s like the difference between Juan and John. Or Jose and Joseph. It’s the same name.

Therefore, in my opinion, Yahveh or Yahweh both refer to the one true God of the Judeo/Christian Faith.
God bless. (Please be kind in the comment section)
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And you also.
 
Bear in mind that we got the English transliteration of the four consonants of the Name from the German transliteration of the Hebrew letters yod-ha-ve-ha. The Germans transliterated that as JHWH. The German J is pronounced like the the English Y, and the W carries the V sound in English. Technically, JHWH should anglicize to YHVH, but in modern usage, the letters have pretty much been put into a food processor and whatever comes out is what comes out. As an English speaker, I always use YHVH.

Another thing that was not asked about is the matter of the two Hs. In English an h following a vowel is usually a clue to the pronunciation of the vowel (bah! meh! oh! duh! [can’t think of anything with “ih”]). However, in the Hebrew name YHVH, the two Hs are actually the first and third consonants of the Hebrew verb from which the name is derived. That makes them VILs (Very Important Letters), and they should be pronounced.

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DaveBj said:
However, in the Hebrew name YHVH, the two Hs are actually the first and third consonants of the Hebrew verb from which the name is derived.
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Do you mean that the h’s represent those consonants? We don’t share the same alphabet with the Hebrews, right?
 
The OP’s question has to do with the third letter (from right to left) in the name, ו . The answer is very simple, really. The letter represents several different sounds. In modern Israeli Hebrew the name of the letter is “vav”. It is sometimes pronounced as a U, sometimes as an O, and sometimes as a V. In earlier centuries, nobody really knows for certain how the letter was pronounced. These things can change quite quickly over time, not to mention from place to place.
 
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