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Iaoue is an English transliteration of the Greek name ιαουε.

ιαουε is found in the writings of Clement of Alexandria

In its article Church Fathers and Magic Papyri The Jewish Encyclopedia says:

It was in connection with magic that the Tetragrammaton was introduced into the magic papyri and, in all probability, into the writings of the Church Fathers, these two sources containing the following forms, written in Greek letters:

(1) "Iaoouee," "Iaoue," "Iabe,";

(2) "Iao," "Iaho," "Iae";

(3) "Aia";

(4) "Ia."

It is evident that

(1) represents יהוה

(2) יהו

(3) אהיה

(4) יה

The three forms quoted under (1) are merely three ways of writing the same word, though "Iabe" is designated as the Samaritan pronunciation.

There are external and internal grounds for this assumption; for the very agreement of the Jewish, Christian, heathen, and Gnostic statements proves that they undoubtedly give the actual pronunciation (Stade's "Zeitschrift," iii. 298; Dalman, l.c. p. 41; Deissmann, "Bibelstudien," pp. 1-20; Blau, l.c. p. 133). [1]

The New Bible Dictionary (1962) says:

The pronounciation Yahweh is indicated by transliterations of the name into Greek in early Christian literature, in the form iaoue (Clement of Alexandria) or iabe (Theodoret; by this time Gk. b had the pronunciation of v) [2]

In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition (New York: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1910-11, vol. 15, pp. 312, in the Article “JEHOVAH”) it states:

The early Christian scholars, who inquired what was the true name of the God of the Old Testament, had therefore no great difficulty in getting the information they sought. Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 212) says that it was pronounced ιαουε. Epiphanies (d. 404), who was born in Palestine and spent a considerable part of his life there, gives IaBe (one cod. Iave). Theodoret (d. c. 457), born in Antioch, writes that the Samaritans pronounced the name IaBe (in another passage, IaBai), the Jews Aia.

In the above quote the number 5 appears to the right of ιαουε indicating that additional information can be found at Footnote #5 at the bottom of the page. Footnote #5 reads: "Strom. v.6. Variants: ια ουε, ια ουαι; cod. L. ιαου."

For a full discussion of various transliterations ("Jehovah", "Yahweh") of the Tetragrammaton in English, and the discussion on its original pronunciation, see Tetragrammaton. This article only focuses on one aspect.

Hebrew Bible's יְהוָה versus the Christian "Yahweh" and יַהְוֶה and ιαουε

The classical niqqud ("vocalization") for the Hebrew word for God (see Names of God in Judaism) in the Hebrew Bible within Judaism is יְהוָה with no exact English phonetical pronounciation fully possible.

While recognizing Judaism's policy against the formal pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, some Christian scholars created a form of God’s Hebrew name that they believed might best represent the actual pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.

In the early 1800’s, Wilhelm Gesenius [1786-1842] was using in his writings the following Hebrew spelling יַהְוֶה (see picture to the right) of the Hebrew word for God. Smith’s 1863 A Dictionary of the Bible states that Gesenius was familiar with this Hebrew spelling [i.e. "יַהְוֶה"]. In fact Smith writes that Gesenius adopted this form. ¹. This Hebrew spelling “יַהְוֶה” used by Gesenius, is not found in any extant Masoretic Text.

This Hebrew spelling “יַהְוֶה” is also found in the Christian Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon where it is identified as “Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel”. Again it should be noted that this Hebrew spelling “יַהְוֶה“is not found in any extant Masoretic text.

The English spelling “Yahweh” was used by Joseph Rotherham in “The Emphasized Bible” [1st edition in 1872, 3rd edition in 1902]. The English spelling "Yahweh" later appeared in two Roman Catholic Bibles, “The Jerusalem Bible” and “ The New Jerusalem Bible.

The Anchor Bible Dictionary , Volume 6 [1972] states:

Instances of the divine name written in Greek letters, such as Iao (equivalent to “Yaho”), Iabe (known to the Samaritans, Theodoret [4th century A.D.], and Epiphanius), Iaoue, Iaouai (Clement of Alexandria [3rd century]), and Iae also favor the form “Yahweh” (NWDB, 453).

Footnotes

1.YahwehfromSmithsBibleDictionarylowres This image, which contains text about Gesenius , can be enlarged for easier viewing by clicking on an icon that appears in the lower right of the image.

External link

• Discussion of Clement of Alexandria's understanding of the Tetragrammaton

Technical note

To view the Hebrew and Greek font used in this article properly, it is recommended that this article be printed out.