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Tetragrammaton

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

Designation for YHWH written with four Hebrew letters; it does not settle the earliest pronunciation or etymology.

Modern diagram: El belongs to the Semitic word family for god; YHWH has four letters. Religious identification does not establish linguistic derivation of one name from the other. Not an ancient inscription or a solution to Yahweh’s etymology
Modern diagram: El belongs to the Semitic word family for god; YHWH has four letters. Religious identification does not establish linguistic derivation of one name from the other. Not an ancient inscription or a solution to Yahweh’s etymologyModern diagram by IL Archive · CC BY 4.0 · CC BYLicense · Image source

Text

Writing and meaning

The name is written יהוה and transliterated YHWHYahwehThe divine proper name written YHWH in the Hebrew Bible.Glossary · Click to read the explanation: yod, he, waw, he. Yahweh is a common scholarly form; the first meaning and relationship between long/short forms remain research questions. Exodus’s interpretation alone cannot settle its etymology.

The image is a modern explanatory diagram. The name differs linguistically from El even where later traditions identify the gods. [1][2][3]

References and notes

  1. Heath D. Dewrell & Andrew M. Garbarino (2023). Names of God in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford Bibliographies. doi:10.1093/obo/9780195393361-0318. Open introductory extract: El as noun or deity, compound El names, convergence and local-manifestation models. Full article and bibliography not read. Return to the text ↑
  2. Heath D. Dewrell (2022). Yahweh the Destroyer: On the Meaning of יהוה. In Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of P. Kyle McCarter Jr., eds. Christopher Rollston, Susanna Garfein & Neal H. Walls. SBL Press. Selected pp. 5–10: debated etymologies, yhwh/yhw/yh/yw forms and caution about deriving divine character from a name; p. 7, Mesha KAI 181.18. P. 5 visually checked. The chapter title is not treated as consensus on “destroyer.” Whole book not read. Return to the text ↑
  3. Hebrew Bible, Exodus 3:1, 13–15. Mechon-Mamre Hebrew–English text. 3:1 Jethro as priest of Midian and Horeb; 3:13–15 ehyeh and the name’s revelation. Textual interpretation distinguished from first etymology. Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 11 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

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Cite this record

IL Archive, «Tetragrammaton», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/tetragrammaton