YAHWEH (was:Non-constructed religions)

Eric Christopherson wrote:
>
> > The root of "to be" in Hebrew is HYH. It's conjugation as a causative
> > singular male present-tense verb (a.k.a. noun) would most probably be (if
> > there was such a thing in modern hebrew) *mahaveh.
>
> I believe the root is HWH. (It looks like you just made a typo, since it
> came out *mahaveh later)
In Hebrew (and indeed Arabic), "y" and "w" are "hollow" root letters,
and decline in various ways.
However you look at it, and as Steg already noted, Yahweh isn't a normal
verbal form. An exegeticaly explanation that may have some etymological
validity, who knows, is that the form blends together three tenses of
the sense "to be" -
haya    -       he was
hove    -       he is
yihyeh  -       he will be


        Shaul Vardi