[Dave Elias]

Well, you are not wrong, the same also being true of latin. However, my fundemental point is that the name of God as written in antiquity is of uncertain pronounciation, although its pictographical representation (we disagree only as to the english alphabet interpretation me Waw, you Vav) an arm, a dude with his hands in the air, a hook peg thing, and another dude with his hands in the air is written in its entirety. Because of the unique nature of the letters that make up YHWH (or YHVH if you prefer)it could be pronounced in a number of ways.

I maintain the correct pronounciation was widely known once (people were illiterate and would not have relied upon text for correct diction), but over the years this knowledge has been lost since it is not clear from the word. This ambiguity has been interpreted as deliberate in order to prevent people from speaking such a holy word.

However regardless of the derivation of the tradition it now clearly is an expression of faith to regard the word itself as holy. Fair enough. What is fascinating is how the practise of ommiting the 'o' in God basically turns the ritual on its head. That is in Hebrew the word can be written, but cannot be correctly spoken, whereas in English this is transposed to become a word that may be spoken but not written.

[safisoft]

Well, you are not wrong, the same also being true of latin. However, my fundemental point is that the name of God as written in antiquity is of uncertain pronounciation, although its pictographical representation (we disagree only as to the english alphabet interpretation me Waw, you Vav)

Well I suppose I may indeed be wrong about much, but what from my post is wrong, and how you declare it to be such with such conviction I am not sure, considering that it was precisely the point I was making.

Because of the unique nature of the letters that make up YHWH (or YHVH if you prefer)it could be pronounced in a number of ways.

I was not arguing that is should not be pronounced, but that it is not clear how one should pronounce it since the vowel pointings were not represented (and if they were, then the sheva and patach CERTAINLY do NOT result in slang American "YAHWAY". There are many theories, but all just that - theories.

a hook peg thing

I suppose some of the "waw" stuff also comes from confusion over how a consonant can sound like an "ooh" and in some phonetic soundings, a "waw" can be made to sound like an "ooh" better than a "vav". But then again, the "ooh" sound is not just a "vav" issue - other letters make it too! Maybe we can get some German speakers here to tell us who we can make those sounds as well < g >

I maintain the correct pronounciation was widely known once (people were illiterate and would not have relied upon text for correct diction)

No, rather their literacy was quite high. They were people of the Book. Reading was not only a right - it was a responsibility. They did, as you point out, know quite well how the Name was pronounced, since even if they substituted "Adonai" or "HaShem" as some do today, they in fact heard the High Priest say the Name each Yom Kippur as the Mishna records.

What is fascinating is how the practise of ommiting the 'o' in God basically turns the ritual on its head

Only in the minds of those who have other rituals. That, is the nature of ritual, isn't it?