About the 13th century the term "Jehovah" appeared when Christian scholars took the consonants of "Yahweh" and pronounced it with the vowels of "Adonai." This resulted in the sound "Yahowah," which has a Latinized spelling of "Jehovah." The first recorded use of this spelling was made by a Spanish Dominican monk, Raymundus Martini, in 1270.
Interestingly, this fact is admitted in much Jehovah's Witness literature, such as their Aid to Bible Understanding (p. 885).
Hello Newly Enlightened thanks for the link. It would be counterintuitive to resurrect an official name for God that was allowed by God to fade into time. The Jews didn't want to misuse the Tetragrammaton as it would be against the commandment to not take the Lord's name in vain. This is where an interesting dichotomy of religious philosophy arises. Was it the will of God to allow the name to fade in time, as in losing it's original meaning and pronunciation? Why use it at all in the first place? I believe the answer is in the story of the burning bush where Moses gathers specific information from the Entity he is interacting with. He lived in a world with many named gods so he made sure to get a personal identication when he had the chance. He was an ambitious fellow. God however, gives the cryptic response of "I AM." This, to me, helps explain the mystery to WHY the early Jews phased out the Tetragrammaton of their worship and rituals. Some Christian's might want to believe that God changed sides, which was never the case. God is always on the side of righteousness.
It seems apparent that this choice to phase out the name was then used by liars to their own advantage. It was so called Christian scholars that "did their best" to retranslate. However, the fact that an actual Hebrew word prenounced "hovah" exists and means "ruin; disaster" and is only found twice in the whole Hebrew Bible makes this explanation highly suspect as fraudulent. Taking "hovah" and putting a "yah" in front of it could be passed of as if "Adonai" was being used to transliterate. It's quite the coincidence that the transliteration phonetically describes "Lord of Doom" in Hebrew. I would say that was by design and proves to be a massive deception that spans across many generations. Now we have religions strewn about the planet using this name which would serve as the perfect form of mass blasphemy to the One True God. Cunning, indeed. It's no wonder the Watchtower insists on using this name. It's an accursed fabrication designed for mass blasphemy.
-Sab
