Hello. I'm new here, don't know much Hebrew, and am wondering if someone really conversant in Hebrew could explain a detailed explanation of the word Jehovah in the jewishenclopedia for me? Here it is, and if someone thinks they understand this, please answer. If not, I really don't want opinions, I want an explanation of what this means, and I have detailed questions about it. It says the pronunciation is grammatically impossible.
Why is it GRAMMATICALLY impossible? Then it says it arose "through pronouncing the vowels of the "ḳere" (marginal reading of the Masorites: = "Adonay") with the consonants of the "ketib" (text-reading: = "Yhwh")"Adonay" (the Lord) being substituted with one exception wherever Yhwh occurs in the Biblical and liturgical books." OK, I think I understand that, but I don't see the connection between that and the first sentence, that it is "grammatically" impossible? How is it grammatically impossible? THEN it says: --"Adonay" presents the vowels "shewa" (the composite under the guttural à becomes simple under the é), "ḥolem," and "ḳameẓ," and these give the reading (= "Jehovah")." What does that mean? How does this give the reading "Jehovah," when the four Hebrew letters can be pronounced in Hebrew somewhat like Yahweh or Yahveh? This is taken from the jewishenclopedia but it's confusing to understand what the author of the article means. "Sometimes, when the two names and occur together, the former is pointed with "ḥatef segol" () under the é thus, (="Jehovah")to indicate that in this combination it is to be pronounced "Elohim" (). These substitutions of "Adonay"and "Elohim" for Yhwh were devised to avoid the profanation of the Ineffable Name (hence is also written , or even , and read "ha-Shem" = "the Name ")." And I can't understand the above either. I'm hoping someone knowing more about the hebrew language can help me here. Thanks!
