The Sacred Name: Whether to pronounce Yahweh’s Name with a “v”
or “w” hinges on which letter accurately transliterates the
sound of the Hebrew letter W or “waw” in the Tetragrammaton,
YHWH. We must take into consideration the ancient pronunciation
of the waw and whether “v”, “w” or “u” as we know them
accurately reflect that ancient pronunciation. The following
information is derived from a number of sources, including G.B.
Palatino’s Lettere Romane (1545). ‘U’ and ‘W’ are variants of
‘V’ which was being used for two different sounds in medieval
England. ‘U’ was introduced to give a soft vowel sound as
opposed to the harder consonant sound of ‘V’. ‘W’ began as a
ligature. Two ‘V’ letterforms were joined into ‘VV’ to represent
‘double U’ in 12th-century England. Those who use the “v” form
of Yahweh’s Name (Yahveh) should note that the Name is spelled
“Yahweh” in almost all academic publications, many by people
well-studied in the Hebrew language, including Hebrew speakers.
Hebrew linguists believe the third le