Martini and the Vowel Points

(Please note that many links are provided to other sites; we do not necessarily agree with all conclusions presented on those sites.)

Raymundus Martini was the author of the work called Pugio Fidei, which was not written in English, but rather in Latin. He also authored some other works. He lived about 300 years after the Masoretes had completed their work on the Hebrew text. The Masoretic text has the vowel points long before Martini was alive. The English forms Jehovah, Yehowah, Iehouah, etc. (depending on whose transliteration method is being used), are definitely transliterations from the Masoretic text corresponding to the vowel points that the Masoretes used in the Holy Name long before Martini was born.

As far as we know, Martini's original works in Latin are not online, and as yet I have not been able to examine them. From what we can determine, he challenged the form presented by the Masoretes, and presented the Holy Name as "Yohoua." We still have not been able to determine how he came up with this pronunciation, nor have we found anything about why he rejected the Masoretic forms of the Holy Name. Oddly, when his work was published after his death, the Holy Name was presented as "Jehova", which does appear to conform closely to the Masoretic text, although it drops the last consonant. Martini definitely did not take vowel points from the Masoretic words ELOHIM and/or ADONAI to form "Jehovah," despite the false claims that he did. Such simply does not conform with the historical facts. The Masoretic text had the vowel points in the Holy Name long before Martini was born.

However, the most common claim is that the Masoretes took vowel points from other words to create the form from which Jehovah is rendered. As best as we can determine, the first to suggest that the Masoretes substituted vowel points they supplied for ADONAI and/or ELOHIM was Wilhelm Gesenius. Gensenius lived from 1786-1842, about 700 years after the Masoretes completed their work. As best as we can determine, he was also the first to suggest that "Yahweh" was the original pronunciation, based on sounds attributed to a Greek form of the Holy Name. The form referred to is often transliterated as IAUE, and given Latin sounds, and placing those sounds with a transliteration of the tetragrammaton as YHWH, results in Yahweh. The reconstruction, however, depends on a lot of theory and assumptions, and although the theories and assumptions may be presented as being fact, they are still theories and assumptions. The reality is that the form Yahweh depends more on theories and assumptions than do the forms found in the Masoretic Hebrew. Nevertheless, as Wikipedia states, "The consensus among scholars is that the historical vocalization of the Tetragrammaton at the time of the redaction of the Torah (6th century BCE) is most likely Yahweh." Again, this is based on the assumption that the Masoretes substituted vowel points they supplied to form the Masoretic word often transliterated as ADONAI and/or ELOHIM.

As to theory, the whole study of linguistic history, as far as sounds, is based on theories. No one on earth today knows for a certainty even what English sounded like four hundred years ago, not to mention the many variations of English. We have theories, but written works suggest that there were many different dialects of English, lacking the uniformity we are used to today. Scholars, however, most often present their theories as being fact, although scholars often disagree with each other. No one on earth knows what ancient Hebrew actually sounded like, nor even the Koine Greek of the New Testament, despite the often detailed explanations of sounds that some scholars often present.

And then there is the study of the Masoretic text itself and the sounds often attributed to both the consonants and the vowels. It is obvious that the Masoretes sought some standardization of sounds, and thus it is possible that in doing so, they neglected sound variations of various consonants as well as the sounds attributed to their vowel points. In other words, where the Masoretes usually promoted one sound for each consonant, this may not actually reflect all the original Hebrew sounds.

There is some evidence that some copies of the Hebrew Old Testament may have had some kind of written vowel system before the Masoretes. There is no evidence, however, that the Masoretes used any earlier manuscripts with written vowels, however, in the creation of the Masoretic text.

In the Wikipedia article on "Names of God", we find the assumption presented as being fact:

The Masoretic Text uses vowel points of Adonai or Elohim (depending on the context) marking the pronunciation as Yəhōwāh (יְ הֹ וָ ה, [jăhowɔh] (About this sound listen)); however, scholarly consensus is that this is not the original pronunciation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism#YHWH
(Much of the wording in this article presents a lot of opinions and assumptions -- both historical and otherwise -- as through fact.)

However, the fact that most scholars agree on an opinion (consensus) does not necessarily make the opinion correct.

References:
(We do not necessarily agree with all conclusions given by these authors)

The Myth That Jehovah Was Pointed with the Vowel Markings of Adonai

Debunking the Myths of Sacred Namers

More may be added to this later... R. R. Day.