Tetragrammaton
The
tetragrammaton is the Hebrew theonym יהוה, commonly transliterated into Latin letters as
YHWH. It is one of the names of the national god of Israel used in the Hebrew Bible. While YHWH is the most common transliteration of the tetragrammaton in English academic studies, the alternatives YHVH, JHVH and JHWH are also used. Although Yahweh is favored by most Hebrew scholars and is widely accepted as the pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, Jehovah is still used in some translations of the Bible. The Samaritans understood the pronunciation to be
iabe. Some patristic sources give evidence for a Greek pronunciation
iaō. Religiously observant Jews are forbidden to pronounce the name of God, and when reading the Torah they use the word
Adonai. Although most Christians have no prohibition on pronouncing the tetragrammaton, in most Christian translations of the Bible, "LORD" is used in place of the tetragrammaton, after the Hebrew
Adonai, and is often written with small capitals to distinguish it from other words translated as "Lord". The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be, to exist".