Jehovah means Disaster?

by jwfacts 9 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  jwfacts

  I received an email linking to the following information, (http://alanhorvath.com/bible_essay1.php) which is interesting. I would like peoples opinion on whether the argumentation is valid.

  Jehovah is an Americanization of the Hebrew-Aramaic Yah-Hovah -- the letter J wasn't introduced into this world until around 1600 A.D. and there is no J in the Hebrew-Aramaic alphabet. Even Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible blindly follows this error; if you look up "Jehovah" it will mistakenly tell you that this is the name of the Father while further revealing, through a more diligent study, that Yah refers to Yahweh (the Father's Name) ... while Hovah, as can be seen via reference number 01943, means ruin, disaster, misfortune and mischief. Therefore, Jehovah means Yahweh is ruin, disaster, misfortune and mischief! Now, who do you think conjured up that trick?

  I checked Strongs and H1943 does mean ruin, disaster, misfortune and mischief.
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  IP_SEC

  Yah-Hovah is not the same as Yod-He-Vod-He

  Hovah-disaster

  Yod-He-Vod-He- to be, am, become
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  Leolaia

  The joys of folk etymology. :) I should point out tho that this segmentation must double the first he, i.e. yh-hwh; had hwh (with the same holem pointing as "Yehowah" if I am not wrong) been a verb, then we could posit y- as a 3s inflection (e.g. "he ruins"), but sadly this is not the case. :)
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  Narkissos

  This is so stupid. I suppose it was started as a (poor) joke and the author didn't even imagine it might be taken seriously.

  By the same "logic," the Spanish pronunciation of Jesus "means" horse (Hebrew sus).
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  IP_SEC

  It is similar to saying that simular and similar both mean the same thing

  smlr and smlr no?
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  IP_SEC

  Jesus "means" horse (Hebrew sus).

  Ahh Nark, great example.
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  jwfacts

  Good points.

  I don't think the author meant that YHWH is related to disaster, but rather that the word "Jehovah" is an unfortunate choice compared to Yahweh, as it combines Yah and Hovah. However, as Leo points out, that still is not quite correct as it requires doubling up on using the H.
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  onlycurious

  Here's my little tid-bit of info on the subject. I have heard that when the scriptures were being written down from one paper to another, the high priest would have to ceremonially cleanse before he could even WRITE the word Yahweh. This name was considered to be SO holy that they were not even allowed to say it.

  And no, there word did not have any vowels in it. I believe that is just our addition so we can even pronounce the word.
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  Narkissos

  onlycurious... I think you are mixing up two distinct late Jewish traditions, (1) about the high priest pronouncing the Name in the sanctuary once a year, and (2) (still later) about scribes (sopherim) washing their hands when writing the Name down.

  The actual pronunciation (which requires oral vocalisation even though only the consonants are written) of the name Yhwh was definitely removed from ordinary Jewish usage well before the Christian era. This of course did not rule out exceptional use (priestly, magical, sectarian, etc.). However, it is apparent from the OT texts, especially the dialogues, that the name once belonged to rather ordinary speech.
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  Narkissos

  I wonder if Strong himself was not a worse cause of hôwâh ("disaster") when he gave myriads of English-reading wannabe preachers the illusion that they could discuss Biblical languages without taking the time of learning them...