Tetragrammaton

The term tetragrammaton (from Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "four letters") refers to the Hebrew theonym (Hebrew: יהוה‎) transliterated to the Latin letters YHWH. It may be derived from the verb that means "to be", and is considered in Judaism to be a proper name of the God of Israel used in the Hebrew Bible.

While YHWH is the usual transliteration of the tetragrammaton in English academic studies, the alternatives YHVH, JHVH and JHWH are also used.

The most widely accepted pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) is Yahweh, though Jehovah is used in many Bibles, but in few modern ones. The Samaritans understood the pronunciation for the Tetragrammaton to be iabe. Some patristic sources give evidence to a Greek pronunciation iao.

As religiously observant Jews are forbidden to say or write the Tetragrammaton in full, when reading the Torah they use the term Adonai. Christians do not have any prohibitions on vocalizing the Tetragrammaton; in most Christian translations of the Bible, "LORD" is used in place of the Tetragrammaton after the Hebrew Adonai, and is written with small capitals (or in all caps) to distinguish it from other words translated "Lord".