Steven Ortlepp

Pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton: A Historico-Linguistic Approach Steven Ortlepp

Two momentous happenings in the history of Israel would affect pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton: 1) The 9th century division of the Israelite kingdom: Henceforth the ten-tribe kingdom would look northwards to expand cultural and commercial interests. This would cause northern Jews to rub shoulders with Phoenicians, causing the highly developed Phoenician tongue to make inroads in the North Israelite dialect. 2) The Babylonian exile: In time Babylonians would overrun the two-tribe kingdom of Judah-Benjamin. This would cause remnants of Aramaic pronunciation to become firmly entrenched in the South Israelite (Judahite) dialect. The proposed Albright-Reisel Hypothesis of North and South Israelite Pronunciation not only provides a framework for classifying all known vocalizations of the Tetragrammaton but goes a long way to explain most forms and irregularities.