THE STUDY OF PROPERNAMES IN THE BIBLE

To restore the pronunciation of the name OUOI there is also the possibility to make a research among the many propernames in the Bible which contain parts of the Tetragrammaton (14). In the Old Testament we can thus use the testimony of the Massorets and their vowel points. We can compare these cases of parts of the Tetragrammaton together with vowel points with the old translation of names in the Septuagint or the Vulgate. In the New Testament there are likewise many names which contain parts of God's name and the Greek original text contains the direct use of vowels which weren't inserted afterwards, and these vowels are inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16).

What does such a study of the propernames reveal? Let us just take a short look:

In the Old Testament we mainly find two forms of God's name in propernames as far as three characters of the Tetragrammaton appear in the Name (a so-called Trigrammaton UOI). Then the Massorets pointed "Yeho" or "Yahu". (15) At the beginning of a word they pointed "Yeho" for instance with "Yehonadab". At the end of a word they pointed "Yahu" for instance like "Netanyahu". (16) This proves that the U in OUOI originally was pronounced either o [o: or @:] (like Yehoshua = Jesus) or u [u:] (like Yirmeyahu = Jeremiah). From the two parts of the Name "Yeho" and "Yahu" we can therefore conclude that God's Name in earlier times was pronounced either "Yehoh" or "Yahuh". From these pronunciations the following  abbreviations are derived: "Ye" (Jesus), "Yo" (John), "Yu" (Jucal) and "Ya" or "Yah" (Halleluiah). The oldest one out of these two pronunciations "Yehoh" and "Yahuh" seems to be the "Yahuh", because the U (= Waw) originally was likely a u and not an o. This is shown by the Latin V (= Vau in German) which seems to be derived from the Hebrew Waw. The Latin V originally was a u-sound (for instance unguis was written VNGVIS meaning ointment). It never was an o-sound.

While the Old Testament instances of Digrammata (= OI or UI ) were pointed by the Massorets either as "Yah" (= OI) or "Yo" (= UI) or "Yu" (= UI) the New Testament translates these Digrammata with either "Ye" (Jesus, Íäsoûß ) or "Yo" (John, Íwánäß ) or "Ya" (Halleluiah, Àllälouiá Revelation 19:1, Elias, Öleíaß = Elijah). A iou in Greek New Testament names was only the Genitive of ia(ß) (17) pointing to "Ya" or "Yah".

A comparison of all "Yo"-abbreviations of the New Testament names with the Hebrew equivalents shows that "Yo" is always a transliteration of  UI . So we see that "Yo" points to the second syllable of God's name:

It points to an O in this second syllable. That means the U was an O. Thus we come to the inspired proof of an O in the second syllable of God's name. The first syllable is inspired, too. We have the inspired "Yah" from Halleluiah (Revelation 19:1). With this easy method we come to the inspired pronunciation of God's name: "Yahoh". Since the "Ye" is inspired, too, but very seldom (only in "Jesus" and in "Bar-Jesus"), we have the second inspired pronunciation of God's name: "Yehoh" which is even affirmed by the Massorets' vowel points  (Yehoshua, Yehonadab, Yehonathan).

The UI always was transcribed with "Yo" in the New Testament (while "Ye" comes from UOI and the "Ya" comes from OI or UOI). This is a further proof that the Waw (= U) from OUOI originally was pronounced as a vowel.

The study of the biblical propernames therefore points to the four early pronunciations of the name of God namely "Yahuh", "Yehuh", "Yahoh" and "Yehoh". Obviously it depended from place and time how the Name was pronounced. That means that God's name was pronounced differently at different places and at different times. This was promoted by the forming of different dialects as the Aramaic and the Arabic were extreme examples. Please note that especially the "Yahoh" and also the "Yehoh" are fully inspired names proven by the inspired Greek of the New Testament. The "Yahoh" even contains a "Yah"-part which does not stem from a propername-part but from a direct use of the abbreviated form of God's name itself in the expression "Praise Yah" (= Halleluiah). This name "Yahoh" therefore easily could be accepted with good conscience to be used in worship by true Christians instead of the uninspired "Yahweh" or even the wrong "Jehovah".

When did humans start using parts of God's name in propernames? Before the deluge this was not common. The first instance in the Bible of a use of God's name in propernames of humans is "Joseph", the son of Jacob. "Jacob" doesn't contain God's name. Also "Judah" does not. But "Joseph" does. So Abraham, Isaac or the early patriarchs Noah and Shem held God's name too holy to be addressed to a human. Other early instances of parts of God's name in propernames of humans are Jochebed, the mother of Moses, and Joshua, the successor of Moses. The early patriarch Abraham only used God's name in the propername of a place: There the full name of God was used, a thing which never happened to a human since the Name is too sacred:

"OUOI-jireh" (Genesis 22:14).

The Bible mentions some of those examples where the whole name of God was used in a name, in each case a place:

OUOI-nissi (Exodus 17:15)

OUOI -shalom (Judges 6:24)

OUOI -zidequesuu (Jeremiah 23:6; 33:16). It is another name for Jerusalem meaning:

OUOI is our righteousness

OUOI-shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) a holy city in a vision meaning: OUOI himself is there

 

 

(14) Compare Appendix D - Names that contain parts of the Tetragrammaton

(15) Some few times also a "Yehu" appears : "Jehu" = AwOj and "Michaiehu" = wOiaIb = Michaiah

(16) Compare the last president of Israel "Netanyahu". (Did OUOI want to make known a "Yahuh" worldwide when allowing that a "Netanyahu" got president in Israel?)

(17) ia(ß) = masculine Nominative of the a-declension, iou = masculine Genitive of the a-declension