also it’s ‘Yahweh’ btw
      • RiotDoll [she/her, she/her]@hexbear.net
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        5 days ago

        It’s still that way. I guess later some letters started indicating certain vowel sounds a bit more directly, but it’s mostly little dots and lines that only get used to teach or are placed on text where ambiguity isn’t acceptable.

        • Maturin [any]@hexbear.net
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          5 days ago

          Also, they transposed the German “J” to the english sounding “Y” at the beginning of “Yahweh” but did not transpose the German “W” into an English sounding “V” to match the Hebrew letter. They should either have it as JHWH or IHVH but instead we get a mix-and-match.

          • RiotDoll [she/her, she/her]@hexbear.net
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            4 days ago

            vav can do different stuff depending on context too. not sure vav as a vowel indicator is as old as the tetragrammaton? i know some features of the writing system are later innovations - most accomodations to vowels don’t go back to paleo-hebrew iirc, but the tetragrammaton probably isn’t that old anyway.

            Anyway if that vav is signalling a vowel, it could be an english o/oo sound, or a lot of things

            I’m not an expert, i am just the specific kind of nerd that will slowly learn archaic languages at whatever pace i can manage and i’ve got subpar hebrew literacy for it, so i don’t wanna mis-represent my credentials here.

  • Barx [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    4 days ago

    In the early days, Yahweh was conceptualized as a jealous god among a pantheon. He was not the only god, just the aligned god of certain groups, contrasted to the competitors like Baal and preceded by those like El (later Elohim). Yahweh transformed over time from the favored and representative god of one group to being the correct and highest and then only god, becoming conflated with El much later.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    5 days ago

    This reminds me of a weird joke I heard once. It went something like this:

    Imagine Bruce Wayne (in a very generous interpretation of the character) actually achieving all of his goals, not only ending crime in Gotham City but ending the conditions for crime even happening in Gotham City. That Gotham City would become a shining city upon the hill that is an inspiration to cities beyond, and eventually entire countries. Eventually, the crime-fighting masked vigilante that Bruce Wayne portrayed wouldn’t need to exist as something for villains to fear, but for everyone to aspire for as an ideal. Wayne Enterprises would become more than a corporation; it would become a political movement, then a philosophical one, aspiring to invent a new and better way of life. Indeed, imagine centuries of this rising, improving way of life until life itself transcended its old boundaries, even mortality itself, until one day, on a distant world…

    A weary bedraggled being in search of answers to spiritual questions comes across a burning bush, awestruck by the sight, and asks the burning bush’s name.

    spoiler

  • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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    4 days ago

    The idea that such a being would care even a whit about human existence is the height of arrogance. Spirituality I can understand as a personal predilection, but religion… religion is narcissists demanding that the universe acknowledge them.