page_title: Tetragrammaton
section_title: Patristic writings
hierarchical_section_title: Tetragrammaton / Patristic writings
caption_attribution_description: Tetragrammaton (Latin version of divine name, see Jehovah) at the 5th Chapel of the Palace of Versailles, France.
context_page_description: The Tetragrammaton or Tetragram is the four-letter Hebrew word יהוה‎, the name of the biblical God of Israel. The four letters, read from right to left, are yodh, he, waw and he. While there is no consensus about the structure and etymology of the name, "the form Yahweh is now accepted almost universally".
  The books of the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible except Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs contain this Hebrew name. Observant Jews and those who follow Talmudic Jewish traditions do not pronounce יהוה‎ nor do they read aloud proposed transcription forms such as Yahweh or Yehovah; instead they replace it with a different term, whether in addressing or referring to the God of Israel. Common substitutions in Hebrew are Adonai, HaShem and hakadosh baruch hu.
context_section_description: According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910) and B.D. Eerdmans:
  Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) writes Ἰαῶ (Iao);
  Irenaeus (d. c. 202) reports that the Gnostics formed a compound Ἰαωθ (Iaoth) with the last syllable of Sabaoth. He also reports that the Valentinian heretics use Ἰαῶ (Iao);
  Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215) reports: "the mystic name of four letters which was affixed to those alone to whom the adytum  was accessible, is called Ἰαοὺ"; manuscript variants also have the forms ἰαοῦε and ἰὰ οὐὲ.
  Origen (d. c. 254), Ἰαώ (Iao);
  Porphyry (d. c. 305) according to Eusebius (died 339), Ἰευώ (Ieuo);
  Epiphanius (died 404), who was born in Palestine and spent a considerable part of his life there, gives Ἰά (Ia) and Ἰάβε (pronounced at that time /ja'vε/) and explains Ἰάβε as meaning He who was and is and always exists.
  (Pseudo-)Jerome (4th/5th century), (Tetragrammaton) can be read Iaho;
  Theodoret (d. c. 457) writes Ἰαώ (Iao); he also reports that the Samaritans say Ἰαβέ or Ἰαβαί (both pronounced at that time /ja'vε/), while the Jews say Ἀϊά (Aia). (The latter is probably not יהוה‎ but אהיה‎ Ehyeh = "I am " or "I will be", Exod. 3:14 which the Jews counted among the names of God.)
  Jacob of Edessa (died 708), Jehjeh;
  Jerome (died 420) speaks of certain Greek writers who misunderstood the Hebrew letters יהוה‎ (read right-to-left) as the Greek letters ΠΙΠΙ (read left-to-right), thus changing YHWH to pipi.
caption: Tetragrammaton at the Fifth Chapel of the Palace of Versailles, France. This example has the vowel points of "Elohim".
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