A free linguistic lesson here from my hubby, heh...!
just thought you'd like to know.
About the Letters of the original Hebrew script, with which the Tetragrammaton was originally penned.
Paleo(-Hebrew) is Greek for OLD, so this would be the OLD Hebrew script: now "old"/paleo-Hebrew is written in the Phoenician script: the Hebrew and Phoenician languages were like sister languages and mutually intelligible, and came from the same source language/unknown (dialects thereof); they are so closely related that the Hebrews easily adapted the Phoenician alphabet for their own language. The Canaanites WERE the Phoenicians. Their Phoenician alphabet is the first real alphabet: most if not all alphabets are descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks got their alphabet from the Phoenicians, and so forth.
Aramaic (also a semitic language) script is likewise a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet. Aramaic and Hebrew are sister languages too, but are NOT mutually intelligible. Even the modern Hebrew alphabet is a takeoff of the Phoenician alphabet, but with very stylized characters so that we cannot easily see the connection. They are in the same alphabetical order, with the same letters, but each character looks quite different.
So whether or not the original or former script of the Tetragrammaton is "purer" than the latter, as some posture, is at least questionable, and at most, laughable.
I know there are sects that like to think these unique letters of the now long dead Phoenician script the Hebrews borrowed for their first alphabet, are somehow "purer" than the latter Hebrew letters (for use of the Tetragrammaton), or than the English, or any other language, nevertheless just a little knowledge clears up all confusion, happily.
just thought you'd like to know.
About the Letters of the original Hebrew script, with which the Tetragrammaton was originally penned.
Paleo(-Hebrew) is Greek for OLD, so this would be the OLD Hebrew script: now "old"/paleo-Hebrew is written in the Phoenician script: the Hebrew and Phoenician languages were like sister languages and mutually intelligible, and came from the same source language/unknown (dialects thereof); they are so closely related that the Hebrews easily adapted the Phoenician alphabet for their own language. The Canaanites WERE the Phoenicians. Their Phoenician alphabet is the first real alphabet: most if not all alphabets are descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks got their alphabet from the Phoenicians, and so forth.
Aramaic (also a semitic language) script is likewise a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet. Aramaic and Hebrew are sister languages too, but are NOT mutually intelligible. Even the modern Hebrew alphabet is a takeoff of the Phoenician alphabet, but with very stylized characters so that we cannot easily see the connection. They are in the same alphabetical order, with the same letters, but each character looks quite different.
So whether or not the original or former script of the Tetragrammaton is "purer" than the latter, as some posture, is at least questionable, and at most, laughable.
I know there are sects that like to think these unique letters of the now long dead Phoenician script the Hebrews borrowed for their first alphabet, are somehow "purer" than the latter Hebrew letters (for use of the Tetragrammaton), or than the English, or any other language, nevertheless just a little knowledge clears up all confusion, happily.