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[edit] Tetragrammaton

A Greek term for the special "four lettered" name of the deity in Hebrew (yod hey vav hey or YHWH -- see Exodus 3.13-15), which was not spoken in classical/rabbinic Judaism (lest the name of YHWH be taken in vain -- Exodus 20.7 = Deuteronomy 6.11), but in place of which the substitute Hebrew term "Adonai" ("Lord") was normally used. Thus Hebrew YHWH is usually represented by Greek "Kurios" ("Lord") in the ancient Greek translations and discussions, and "Dominus" ("Lord") in the Latin; English translations usually use "LORD" (all upper case) or the somewhat artificial "Jehovah" (the four letters of YHWH filled out by means of an adaptation of the vowels of the substitute Hebrew term aDoNaI -- note that the letters J and Y are interchangeable in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin).

There is extensive scholarly discussion about whether the early Greek translations such as the "Septuagint" (LXX; the Pentateuch) employed "Kurios" or some other representation -- there are some ancient Greek manuscripts in which the four Hebrew letters are inserted in archaic form, or in the "square" Hebrew alphabet (leading later copyists to introduce the graphically similar Greek letters PIPI), and s fragmentary Greek manuscript from Qumran uses "IAW" for the tetragrammaton, as do some Greek and Latin explanations of Hebrew names ("onomastica"). The tetragrammaton is also found in shortened form in various Hebrew names (e.g. AdoniJah ["Lord JAH"], HezekiJah), which suggests that "YAH" may have also been an acceptable substitute in some periods. Some Hebrew manuscripts also use the double yod, sometimes with a line over it indicating an abbreviation. "Magical" documents in various languages also use the aforementioned representations of this special, thus powerful, name. Sometimes the term "tetragrammaton" is even spelled out in such contexts.


If you don't know the difference between Adoni, Adonkha, Adonekh, Adono, Adonah and Adonai, Adoneykha, Adonayikh, Adonaw, Adoneyha, then please don't offer "corrections" on Biblical Hebrew morphology... 19:24, 8 February 2007 (UTC)