Yahweh

English

Alternative forms

• Jahaveh, Jahve, Jahveh, Jahweh, Yahve, Yahveh, Yahwe

Etymology

The usual form of the ancient West Semitic (Hebrew) יהוה‎ used in scholarship. Used especially in discussions of the religion of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The spelling Jahweh was used in German since the 1850s. The spelling Yahweh in English (ensuring the pronunciation of the initial consonant as /j/) first appears in the 1860s, e.g. in the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come edited by John Thomas, founder of the Antipas Christadelphians (vol. X. no. 1, Westchester, NY, January 1860). First appeared in English Bible translations for the Tetragrammaton in the 1902 Emphasized Bible (EBR).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑː(h)weɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Proper noun

Yahweh

1. (history of religion) The name of the God of Israel worshipped by the Jahwist prophets in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in antiquity.
   • 1913 "No certain evidence for the pre-Mosaic use of the form Yahweh [...] seems yet to have been brought forward." (H. W. Robinson, Religious Ideas of Old Testament, 3.53)
   • 1998, Anne Rice, The Vampire Armand, New York: Knopf, →ISBN, →OL, page 273:

     We are too much men and women; we are yet formed in the image of the Creator, and what can we say of Him with any certainty except that He, whoever He may be—Christ, Yahweh, Allah—He made us, did He not, because even He in His Infinite Perfection could not bear to be alone.

2. (biblical) In "Sacred Name Bibles", a transliteration of the Tetragrammaton.
   • 1985 "At the time when Yahweh God made earth and heaven" (New Jerusalem Bible, Genesis 2:4)

Synonyms

• Yahuwah
• Jah
• Jehovah
• יהוה‎ (YHVH)

Derived terms

• Yahwism
• Yahwist

Translations

personal name of God

• Arabic: يَهْوَه‎ m (yahwah)
• Aramaic: 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄‎
• Armenian: Յահվե (Yahve)
• Catalan: Jahvè (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 耶和華／耶和华 (je⁴ ho⁴ waa⁴), 雅威 (ngaa⁵ wai¹)

  Mandarin: 耶和華／耶和华 (zh) (Yēhéhuá), 雅威 (zh) (Yǎwēi)

  Min Nan: 耶和華／耶和华 (Iâ-hô-hoa)

• Danish: Jahve
• Dutch: Jahweh (nl) m, Jahwe (nl) m
• Esperanto: Javeo (eo)
• Finnish: Jahve (fi)
• French: Yahweh (fr) m
• Georgian: იაჰვე (iahve)
• German: Jahwe (de) m
• Greek: Γιαχβέ (el) m (Giachvé), Ιαχβέ (el) m (Iachvé)

  Ancient: Ἰαω (Iaō), Ἰαωουηε (Iaōouēe), Ἰαβα (Iaba), Ἰαωουηι (Iaōouēi), Ἰαωουεη (Iaōoueē), Ἰαωουε (Iaōoue), Ἰαωουεα (Iaōouea), Ἰαουέ (Iaoué), Ἰαουαί (Iaouaí)

• Hebrew: יהוה‎ (he) m
• Indonesian: Yahwe
• Irish: Iáimhé
• Japanese: ヤハウェ (Yahawe)
• Korean: 야훼 (ko) (Yahwe)
• Marathi: याहवे m (yāhve)
• Persian: یهوه‎ (fa) (yahve)
• Polish: Jahwe (pl) m
• Portuguese: Javé (pt) m
• Russian: Я́хве (ru) m (Jáxvɛ)
• Samaritan:

  Samaritan Aramaic: ࠉࠄࠅࠄ‎ m (yhwh /⁠yaiba⁠/)

  Samaritan Hebrew: ࠉࠄࠅࠄ‎ m (yaiba)

• Serbo-Croatian: Jȁhve (sh) m
• Sicilian: Javè m
• Spanish: Yavé m
• Swedish: Jahve
• Syriac: ܝܗܘܗ‎
• Tatar: Йәһвә (Yähwä)
• Thai: พระยาห์เวห์ (prá yah-weh)
• Ukrainian: Ягве m (Jahve)

Jehovah — see Jehovah

See also

• hallelujah
• Tetragrammaton

Spanish

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈʝabe/ [ˈɟ͡ʝa.β̞e]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʝabe/ [ˈɟ͡ʝa.β̞e]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /ˈʃabe/ [ˈʃa.β̞e]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /ˈʒabe/ [ˈʒa.β̞e]

• Rhymes: -abe

Proper noun

Yahweh m

1. Alternative form of Yavé