The Pronunciation of the Hebrew Letter Vav (Nehemiah Gordon)

This is a clip taken (by permission) from a video interview with Michael Rood's and Nehemiah Gordon on September 2, 2016, where Nehemiah discusses the pronunciation of the Hebrew letter vav.

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Jeff A. Benner’s Websites

Ancient Hebrew Research Center

Excavating the Bible

Mechanical Translation Project

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[ancienthebreworg]

There have been some comments asking if it is really important if it is a V or a W. Well that depends on the motive for wanting to know. From a religious perspective I don't think it really makes a difference, but from a scholastic perspective this is very important. For those of us who study the ancient language we are always looking for clues into the mechanics of this ancient language. But for me personally, this video is very important as it challenged me and caused me to rethink some of my own viewpoints. When I find out I could be wrong on something, I get excited and look forward to learning something completely new.

[ancienthebreworg]

I have dug a little deeper into one of the issues in this video.

This video includes a claim by Nehemiah Gordon from the book of Ezekiel to support the "v" sound for pronunciation of the letter ו (vav or waw). His claim is that there are two Hebrew words, both meaning "back, " which are actually the same word, with the same pronunciation, just spelled differently.

One of these words is גב (Strong's #1354), which appears in Ezekiel 10:12 and is translated as "backs" in the KJV. The first letter is a gimel, which is pronounced with a "g" sound. The second letter is a beyt, which in Modern Hebrew is pronounced with a "b" sound when it appears at the beginning of a syllable, but as a "v" sound when it is at the end of a syllable, such as it is with the word גב. So this word is pronounced "gav."

The second word is גו (Strong's #1458), which appears in Ezekiel 23:35 and is translated as "back" in the KJV. The first letter is the gimel (g) and the second letter is the letter vav (v or w), so this word would be pronounced as "gav" or "gaw." Nehemiah's conclusion is that גב and גו is the same word, meaning "back, " but spelled two different ways and the only way this would be possible is if the letter vav in the word גו were pronounced with a "v."

The first thing that I want to point out is that we do not know if in ancient times the letter beyt was pronounced with a "v" when at the end of a syllable, we only know that this it is pronounced this way in modern times. The second thing I want to point out goes a little deeper into these two words.

The word גו (Strong's #1458) is used in the Hebrew Bible only three times, 1 Kings 14:9, Nehemiah 9:26 and Ezekiel 23:35 and in each case this word is translated as "back." It is also of interest that in each of these three verses, this word is used in the context "behind the back."

The word גב (Strong's #1354) is used thirteen times in the Hebrew Bible; six of these times is in the book of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 1:18 it is translated in the KJV as "ring, " in Ezekiel 10:12 as "backs, " in Ezekiel 16:24, 16:31, 16:39 as "eminent place" and in Ezekiel 43:13 as "higher place." While the KJV translates the word גב as "backs" only once (Ezekiel 10:12), it translates this word differently in other places including; naves, eyebrow, bodies and bosses. In other translations the word גב is translated as; arch, spoke and rim. The word גב does not mean "back, " but instead means "arch, " which may be the "back" (as when bent over) or something else that has the shape of an arch.

My conclusion is that גב and גו are two different words, one meaning "arch" (גב), which is pronounced "gav, " and the other meaning "back" (גו), which may be pronounced as "gav" or "gaw."

[GodOfMySalvationIsYeshua]

"ב " The
Was pronounced not with teeth and lips like the English V, but between lips like the Spanish b between vowels. So it resembles w sound but not quite. "-aba" Spanish resembles "awa" but there's no "oo" pronunciation, just the air between upper and lower lips. This is how yéménites pronoud ב which does not exist in Arabic.

[qitrodz]

very compelling argument, but I think you might be misunderstanding how old this division is? Also, we may not know if this is migration or actual dialectic difference from a much earlier time. I think the vowels associated with Vav, waw are very teling. You didn't cover that at all. I realize that the Mazoretic additions are much later, but those added vowels in most cases actually pronounced. If one just forms "O" and "U" with their mouth, it is hard not to think that they are actually an original association. I continue to think YHVH was a sound coming untouched through the mouth. This ruach-like word is also compelling. But one day, we will know for sure, and who knows, we might all be wrong.
I forgot an allusion to Sh/sibbolet/th. To strike a conclusive opinion on this topic is very bold, but it may still be wrong. Respectfully.

[jdwillis]

Flavius Josephus (Yusef Ben MatithYahu) the historian of the first century, claims to have laid eyes on the golden headpiece worn by the Kohen ha’Gadol (high priest).
He described it as having the Name written in four Hebrew vowels, which we know is comprised of the letters YOD-HAY-UAU-HAY or YOD-HAY-WAW-HAY I write this as to also show you in love that if you spelled the word noun is no different then to also spell it nown they both sound the same but spelled differently, anyway, when sounding consonants, air flow is interrupted or limited by the position of the tongue, teeth or lips.
The first century historian cited here was under the impression the letter HAY is a vowel as used in the Name.
He surely knew more about the use and sound of the Hebrew language than any other person since the first century, and certainly would have been very disturbed by the alterations made by the Masoretes over 500 years after his time.
Some claim “Hebrew has no written vowels, ” and many claim the 22 letters are all “consonants.”
How a letter is used in combination with other letters makes a difference, and the more rules men try to make the more we encounter the exceptions to them.

[siicpaxsheechpaw]

Cool I have been waiting for Nehemiah to explain this controversy. Thank you Jeff for posting this video.

[danielwhite]

the critism of eben ezra on the kalir is that the rhyme is not perfect when rhyming "vav" an "bet". not that eben ezra holds that "vav" is "wa" like in arabic. nehemia gordon misunderstood him unfortunately.

[lyricaltraveller]

It's interesting to note that in the Cyrillic alphabet the letter "B" is pronounced as a "V". the Cyrillic alphabet has it's roots in the Semitic languages.

[normanmcdermid]

I accept that the letter VAV (UAU) has a V why then are there two VAVs in Yehovah. The o and the v are two VAVs, but there is only one in our gods name...Yah(u)ah. See, only one VAV.

[khuma]

One thing that always troubles me is, How do we get YHWH/YHYH from " Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh?"
Also, does YHWH/YHVH mean LORD or GOD?
Is it a personal name?

Sincerely waiting for satisfactory answer.

[qv]

He cites sources from way after Roman and Greek influence upon the language

[vango]

There is no V "sound" just as there was no J. That's why the W is called a double U. Their U however is shaped like a "V".
I'm glad to know it doesn't change the meaning of the word to use the V sound. I am looking forward to the Uau being restored.

[momanamc]

doesn't the vav have two vowel sounds ooh (moo) and ah. without the v or w sounds, when speaking the name, yah h oo ah

[justlooking]

Very interesting, I have read before that the further you go back in history the more similar Arabic and Hebrew are. Also that Arabic is the most well preserved of the afro-Asiatic languages outside of Africa. So with that in mind. Is it possible that the vav changed from a waw as the language evolved early on? I personally prefer the Vav because it flows better.

[lastdayspropheciesunsealed]

There are instances where the Waw/Vav is pronounced 'oo'. Like in רוח Ruach. So, יהוה Yahuah is not outside of the realm of possibility!  In regards to Ruach, you certainly cannot put a 'v' sound or 'w' sound in its place! I do believe the Vav was originally a Waw first.

[normanmcdermid]

What I would like to bring to your attention, is that the tetragrammathon only has one VAV, while in the name Yeha(ov)ah, which yo propose, you have inserted another VAV. The way that I pronounce His name is Yahuah.

[messengerofiexist]

I doubt that Ezekiel would have pronounced the name as Yehovah.
What is the earliest source your using to make this claim?
I understand the discussion is mainly about the pronunciation of the vav, but you made the statement how Ezekiel would pronounce His name. This is an intellectual leap across a Grand Canyon State.

Hi Jeff, the foundation you built in restoring the paleo is the key to rediscovering the original structure of Hebrew. EEYAH has provided a system for correcting your basic structure. With this system it will be possible for anyone to independently verify this work.

Jeff and. Nehemia are doing awesome work. YEEHA EEYAH.

[dtrvct]

In Isaiah 3:17 from the Masoretic text we see there is a mappiq in the first Vav, yet there is a silent shwa in the preceding consonant, Qof. From this we know the Vav was pronounced as a /w/ only when adjacent to a fully rounded, long /u/ vowel, in this case the Shuruk. This means Vav was pronounced as a /v/ in Masoretic Hebrew. It was more likely a /w/ in ancient Hebrew. But it may have varied depending on the dialect.

[e-drummerdee]

How correctly are spellt the Letters "PTR" as a Name ??? Is it "PeTeR" (German) ???? Is it "PeeTeR" (English) or is it "PioTRe" (Polish) ???

And why do you say so

[northernillinoissasquatchr]

I learned biblical Hebrew from an Israeli professor (a Cohen), who has a Yemeni background. He taught me to pronounce it like a W. We never read the yud heh vav heh as Yehova, only as Adoni because The Name is holy.