Tetragrammaton
<p >The <b>tetragrammaton</b> (from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language" >Greek</a> τετραγράμματον, meaning "(consisting of) four letters")<sup id="cite_ref-Knight.2C2011_1-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-Knight.2C2011-1" >[1]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup> is the Hebrew <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theonym" title="Theonym" >theonym</a> יהוה, commonly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteration" title="Transliteration" >transliterated</a> into Latin letters as <b>YHWH</b>. It is one of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_God_in_Judaism" title="Names of God in Judaism" >names</a> of the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_god" title="National god" >national God</a> of Israel used in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Bible" title="Hebrew Bible" >Hebrew Bible</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-3" >[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-4" >[4]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup>
While YHWH is the most common transliteration of the tetragrammaton in English academic studies, the alternatives YHVH, JHVH and JHWH are also used.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-7" >[7]</a></sup>
Although "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh" title="Yahweh" >Yahweh</a>" is favored by most Hebrew scholars and is widely accepted as the pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah" title="Jehovah" >Jehovah</a> is still used in some translations of the Bible. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan" title="Samaritan" class="mw-redirect" >Samaritans</a> understood the pronunciation to be <i>iabe</i>. Some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Fathers" title="Church Fathers" >patristic</a> sources give evidence for a Greek pronunciation <i>iaō</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-Parke-Taylor.2C79_8-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-Parke-Taylor.2C79-8" >[8]</a></sup>
Religiously observant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew" title="Jew" class="mw-redirect" >Jews</a> are forbidden to pronounce the name of God, and when reading the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah" title="Torah" >Torah</a>they use the word <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonai" title="Adonai" class="mw-redirect" >Adonai</a></i> ("Lord").<sup id="cite_ref-Parke-Taylor.2C79_8-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-Parke-Taylor.2C79-8" >[8]</a></sup>
The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be, to exist".<sup id="cite_ref-Knight.2C2011_1-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragrammaton#cite_note-Knight.2C2011-1" >[1]</a></sup></p>