Jehovah
/dʒɪˈhoʊvə/
noun
Origin
Hebrew
יהוה — Tetragrammaton (Name of God)
Overview
Meaning Now
- A vocalized form of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of God in the Hebrew Bible, arising from a late medieval misunderstanding of the Hebrew vowel pointing system.
Literal older meaning
He brings into existence
Language path
Hebrew → Latin → English
Earliest form
Iehouah
Earliest period
16th century
Journey
The name arises from the Masoretic practice of marking the consonants of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) with the vowels of the Hebrew word 'Adonai' (Lord), as it was considered forbidden to pronounce the divine name directly. Christian scholars in the Middle Ages mistakenly combined these into 'Jehovah'.
Evolution
- Biblical Hebrew
YHWH
“Divine name”
Original unvocalized script.
- Masoretic Hebrew
יְהוָה
“Divine name”
Vocalized with vowels from Adonai to signal the reader to say the latter.
- Medieval Latin
Iehoua
“Divine name”
Combination of the consonants YHWH and the vowels of Adonai.
- Early Modern English
Jehovah
“God”
The letter 'I' shifts to 'J' in the 17th century.
Connections
Related across languages
German
Jehova
Jehovah
Related words
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External references use DefinedTerm semantics.