by lepavoux 23 Replies latest jw friends
In English we read from left to right, but in Hebrew they read from right to left.
Now the Tetragrammaton YHWH (Yahweh) we read God's name in the English from left to right,but is this correct? Should we not be reading the name from right to left? If we did this the pronunciation would it not be in the opposite direction? Any thoughts on this anyone?
The transliteration is merely a means to help us read Hebrew without knowing how to read Hebrew. There is no reason to read YHWH right to left because it is accurate as transliterated.
Thank you Robdar.
Do you mean the Hebrews spelt the name HWHY and pronounced it as we do YHWH?
No, I meant that YHWH is (as far as we can tell) is an accurate tranliteration of ? ? ? ?
The four Hebrew letters (Yod ? , He ? , Waw ? and He ? ) would be read right to left in Hebrew but when they are transliterated into the English language, they should be read as they would be in English from left to right as YHWH.
Well, I guess the Hebrew letters didn't post. Let me look around and see what I can find.
Now for take 2:
I meant that YHWH is (as far as we can tell) is an accurate transliteration of the four Hebrew letters (Yod, He , Waw (or Vav), He) and would be read right to left in Hebrew but when they are transliterated into the English language, they should be read as they would be in English from left to right as YHWH.
Here are a couple of links explaining the Hebrew Aleph Bet (alphabet) and perhaps it can help.
http://www.jewfaq.org/alephbet.htm
http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Aleph/aleph.html
The WT have got the pronunciation right, it is Jehoober.
It is right to left like any other Hebrew word or name.
those satanists.. writing everything in reverse order
Interestingly, the two oldest Hebrew inscriptions, the 'Izbet Sartah abecedary and the Qeiyafa ostracon, have writing from left to right. The even older Ugaritic cuneiform script was also read from left to right. It is also possible that both were used at the same time; we know from early Greek inscriptions (the Greek alphabet was borrowed from the Phoenician alphabet, a cousin of the early Hebrew alphabet) that the order could snake around from left to right on one line and then right to left on the next.
