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What archaeological
findings tell about the pronunciation In
the Amun-temple in Soleb (Sudan) there are found sculptures from the
time of Amenhotep III. These sculptures are from the 14. century
BCE. On one sculpture there
is an Egyptian hieroglyph with the Divine Name. This is the oldest
archaeological occurrence of the Divine Name as we know. Below
is an illustration from a reconstruction of the sculpture.
The pronunciation of the hieroglyphs can be interpreted in more than one way. However, Gerard
Gertoux, scholar at Association Biblique de Recherche d'Anciens Manuscrits
in France gives the following vocalization:
Transcription of
the hieroglyph:
t3 ¡3-sw-w y-h-w3-w (Shneider's transcription)
ta sha-su-w y-eh-ua-w (conventional vocalization)
The text is easy to
decipher - it sounds "ta' sha'suw yehua'w", which means
in English "land of the bedouins those of Yehua". It was
common to name lands after the name of the gods - for example in
Genesis 47:11 we read about "the land of Rameses".
We know little about
the vowels of ancient Egyptian words. But for foreign words (like Yhw3),
Egyptians used a form of matres lectionis. In this system the vowel
letters was like this: 3 = a, w = u, ÿ=i. Mr. Gertoux points to the Merneptah's stele, dated 13-th century BCE, where the name Israel is
transcribed in hieroglyphs Yÿsri3l, read "Yisrial". Gertoux draws the conclusion that Yhw3
technically can be read as Yehua'.
Professor Jean Leclant
writes: "It is evident that the name on the name-ring in Soleb
that we discuss corresponds to the 'tetragram' of the god of the
Bible YHWH." He adds: "The name of God appears here
in the first place as the name of a place." In a footnote he
explains that place-names often are derived of the names of gods.
(Jean
Leclant, Le "Tétragramme" à l’époque d’Aménophis III, in
"Near Eastern Studies dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito Mikasa
on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday," pages 215-219,
1991, Wiesbaden)
Summary:
The oldest archaeological testimony where you can see the
Divine Name is from about the 14. century BCE. Professor Gertoux claims that the Egyptian
text shows us that the name was pronounced Yehua. |
Aerial view of the Amun-temple:
The arrow points to where the
name-shield was found
Plan of the Amun-temple:
The arrow points to where the
name-shield was found
Drawing of the excavation site:
Sources:
Gérard Gertoux: The Name of God ... its story, 2002, Paris. (primary source)
B.D. Redford: Egypt,
Israel, Sinai, Archeological and Historical Relationship in the
Biblical Period, Ed. A.F. Rainey, p. 151, 1987, Tel Aviv.
Jean Leclant: Le 'Tétragramme' à l’époque d’Aménophis
III, in 'Near Eastern Studies dedicated to H.I.H. Prince Takahito
Mikasa on the Occasion of His Seventy-Fifth Birthday', pages 215-219, 1991, Wiesbaden.
Michele Schiff Giorgini: Soleb I, 1813-1963, Firenze.
M. Weippert: The Settlement of the Israelite Tribes in
Palestine, 1971, London.
P.J.B.: La naissance de Dieu. Du Xe au IIIe siècle
av. J.C. La révélation de Yahvé, in 'Sciences et Avenir',
01/1999, N° 623.
Shmuel Ahituv: Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian
Documents, 1984, Leiden.
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