Jehovah

(jé-ho’ vii), x. [The common European spelling (with j = y and v = w) of Yehowah or Yahowdah, the Ma or etic form of the Hebrew name previously written without vowels JHVH (YHWH), the vowels of Adéndi (which see) being substituted by the later Jews for those of the original name, which came to be regarded as too sacred for utterance. The original name, according to the view now generally accepted, was Yahweh, or rather Yahwe, the name appearing also contracted Yah, separately (see halleluiah), or, as Yah (Jah: see Jah), Yo, Yeho, Yahu, in compound proper names (as, in E. forms, Lsaiah, Jeremiah, ete., Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus, Jehoshua: see Jesus), transliterated in late Greek variously "Ia{é, *Iavé, Iaové. The origin and meaning of the name are unknown. It was formerly referred to the Hebrew root hdwah, be, exist, and was taken to imply self-existence, ‘he that is’ (‘I am that I am,’ Ex. iii. 14; more correctly ‘I shall be what I shall be’), or else eternity. Some modern scholars would translate the name as ‘he who causes to be,’ i. e. the Creator, while others connect it with an Aramaic sense ‘fall,’ as if ‘he who causes (rain or lightning) to fall,’ this explanation being paralleled by similar terms a ociated with the Greek Zeus. Others, in view of the fact that a metaphysical notion like ‘self-existence’ does not elsewhere appear in the names of the deities of primitive peoples, regard the Hebrew derivation as a piece of popular etymology (somewhat like that which in English a ociates the name God with good), and seek to identify Yahwe with some A yrian or other foreign deity.] 1. In the Old Testament, one of the names of God as the deity of the Hebrews: in the English version usually translated, or rather represented, by ‘‘the LORD.” See etymology. The Jews, since an early date, have avoided the pronunciation of this name of God, and wherever it occurs in the sacred books have substituted the word Adonai, or, where it comes in conjunction with Adonat, have substituted Elohim. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. Ex. vi. 3. Father of all! in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, or by sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord! Pope, Universal Prayer. 2. In modern Christian use, God.