Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 36-76 45
יהו 3. Theophoric Names Ending with
The names in this category are known to us in three variations, i.e., those
‎50‎‏.אחיו ‏,אחיה ‏,אחיהו as ‏,יו,‏ ‏,יה,‏ יהו with the endings
The question of their distribution was taken up by N. H. Tur-Sinai (H. Torczyner)
who studied the epigraphic material known up to 1938.51 His conclusion
was that the form with the ending יו is Ephraimite in origin, while the two
others were dominant in Judah; the long one with יהו before and the short one
with יה after the exile.52
This conclusion was strongly confirmed by the DSS, where the tendency to
apply the short ending יה instead of יהו is seen very clearly.53
A study of Ezr.-Neh. and Chr. provides the following facts:
a) In Ezr.-Neh. the number of names belonging to this category is very high;
eighty names mentioned altogether almost two hundred and seventy times; all
the names are written with the short ending ‎54‎‏.יה Thus, Ezr.-Neh. is a faithful
reflection of the actual linguistic conditions.
b) The case is much more complicated in Chr. The first outstanding fact is
the variety of material in which both short and long endings occur.
At first glance the situation may be interpreted thus: It is a result of the
Chr.’s composite character, i.e., the old sources preserved in Chr. still retain
the long form, while in the new material, the short form with the ending יה is
to be found. In fact the opposite is true. There is an obvious tendency in Chr.
to lengthen the short endings which do appear in.55 There are fourteen such
etc. 2 Sam. vi 3, אחיו etc. 1 Ki. xiv 2, אחיה etc. 1 Ki. xiv 5, אחיהו 50)
51) N. H. Tur-Sinai (H. Torczyner), The Lachish Letters. London, 1938, pp. 24ff. Besides the Lachish
Letters themselves, Tur-Sinai made use of all the epigraphic material found in D. Diringer,
Le Iscrizione Antico-Ebraiche Palestinensi, 1934, of the Elephantine letters, the ostraca of Samaria
and others.
52) Op. cit., p. 25. Accordingly the emergence of the shorter ending is a result of Aramaic influence.
Cf. also G. R. Driver: “The original form of the name Yahweh”, ZAW 46, 1928, pp. 16-19.
53) Cf. Burrows, JBL LXVIII, pp. 204-205. Kutscher, op. cit., p. 5. In the Isaiah Scroll the regular
‏.יהו form is the short one, which occurs tens of times, while constantly shortening the ending
Only twice, and one of them presumably added by a second hand, is the longer יהו to be found.
Cf. Kutscher, op. cit., p. 93.
54) There is only one exception among this great number which is no doubt a result of textual
error. In Ezr. x 41, עזראל ושמריהו שלמיה has to be read ושמריה ושלמיה ‏,עזראל with a better division
of the word. Cf. Rudolph, Esra-Neh., p. 100.
55) The fact was recognized by A. Sperber, and taken over by Burrows. Sperber’s list contains
nine examples. One of them seems to me inaccurate (2 Chr. ‏,עוזיהו xxvi 1 2 Ki. xiv 21 ‏(עזריה (Op. cit.,