tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 18 07:00:00 1995
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Re: KBTP: "Tetragrammaton"
>Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 15:09:25 -0400
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: "Mark J. Reed" <[email protected]>
>It is always pronounced "Adonai" which means "my Lord". I imagine the KBTP
>used something like that (joHwI'?) when translating it, just as has been done
>when translating it into English, but I'm sure one of the KBTP folks will
>give a definite answer.
An oddity is that "'adonay" actually means "my lords", in plural, though
it's treated as singular. 'elohim is similarly plural in form, and for
that matter is also used in the Bible to mean "gods" in the plural with a
small "g" (i.e. other gods). As a quirk, since names of God are considered
too holy for everyday vernacular, the name "'elohim" is often spoken and
spelled "'elokim" in informal speech when it refers to God, to avoid
speaking a name of God, but it's okay to say "'elohim" when you mean other
gods. Go figya.
>The name is considered sacred by Jews. Any attempt to pronounce the true
>name is considered blasphemous; any medium containing the written form of the
>name may not be destroyed. Some Jews carry these restrictions over to other
>representations of God, which is why you will frequently see, for instance,
>"G-d" instead of "God" in Jewish publications.
Yes, indeed... as is "'adonay" for similar reasons; that's why many
religious Jews will say "hashem" instead (which means "the name"). I would
feel odd saying "'adonay" regularly, except in prayer or when I'm
explaining it to someone who needs to hear it right (like in this situation
here; if I avoided the terms we were talking about, we'd never get
anywhere). Despite being an Orthodox Jew myself, I personally think using
"G-d" is pretty silly... the Rabbis denoted seven names which are not to be
destroyed, and every single one of them is in Hebrew. "God" is not. I
also won't do "the A-lmighty" or "The E-ternal O-ne". My brother grumbles
that one of his students won't write "god" even for little-g gods. Oh
well.
~mark