JEHO'VAH. A word used four times in the Authorized Version of the English Bible as the name of the national deity of the Hebrews. This name was carried over from the earlier religious period of that people to the later post exilic time. when, largely through the influence of the prophets, the transformation of the na tional god into the one universal God of a mono theistic faith took place. In consequence, the pro nunciation of the name of the old tribal deity was avoided, partly because of associations which seemed to imply limitations to His being, partly because of the growth of the sentiment that the genuine name of the one God was too sacred. too powerful to be used except on extraordinary occa sions and by any but those who were commis sioned as His representatives on earth—the high priests. The name was expressed in writing, according to the usual method in Hebrew, without vowels, by the four consonants corresponding to our YEAVH—the tetragrammaton. as it is called. When the vowels were added to the consonantal text of the Old Testament, several centuries after the birth of Christ, as a means of preserving the pronunciation of the sacred literature, those of Adonai, 'my lord,' were attached to the tetra grammaton as an indication that the holy name was to be pronounced as though it were adonai (q.v.). By a misunderstanding. Christian schol ars in the sixteenth century combined the vow els of Adonai with the consonantal frame, thus producing the form Yehowah or Jehovah, j being used for the Hebrew y and r for tr. as was very customary. The earliest occur rence of this word is 1520. In the English
Bible the tetragrammaton is usually represented by 'the LORD.' The avoidance of the use of the name of the Supreme Deity led to the loss of the true pronunciation, and we have no absolutely certain data for determining what it was. It is very probable, however, that it was Yahweh. and this form and pronunciation are now universally used by scholars. .Jehovah is often used as a name of God, connoting especially His power and majesty. The name of the Hebrew deity is also found in abbreviated form as Yah (as in hallalu rah, 'praise ye Yah'), Yahu, and Yo. par ticularly in proper names. The origin and mean ing of the name are not known. It has been con nected with the verb haya, to be. with the mean ing 'he is,' implying existence without limitation. Another theory connects it with the causative form of the same verb with the meaning 'he causes to be,' i.e. the Creator. Still another theory makes it mean 'he who causes to fall' (i.e. rain or lightning) , a view which has some support by analogy with the use of similar terms for the Greek Zeus. Others have sought to iden tify Yahweh with some foreign deity, or con sider it a piece of popular etymologizing like the English derivation of God from good. Consult: Dolman, Dcr Gottesname Adonai (Leipzig. 1896) : Driver, "The Tetragrammaton." in Studia Biblica. (Oxford, 1S85) ; Smend, AI t t esta ent liehe Religionsgesehichte (Freiburg, 1893) : Schultz, Alttestamentliche Thcologie (Gottingen, ISS9).