Bear with me, this one is going to be long. (Also I assume a graffiti is acceptable? It’s been there awhile, and I swear I didn’t put it there)
So this is the yod – hay – vov – hay. The tetragrammaton. The four letter Hebrew name of God.
At least by the second Temple era pronouncing it was taboo. It was only spoken by the high priest on Yom Kippur. It is said the pronunciation is forgotten (though based on elements found in other Hebrew names, etc, scholars believe it was pronounced “yahweh”)
Given the taboo, Jews have pronounced it “adonai” , which is Hebrew for my lord, (from adon, lord, nobleman). Thus why it fits this thread. It has traditionally been translated as “lord” though many recent translations use alternatives like sovereign or infinite.
As an aside, in Hebrew texts the four letters are usually given the vowels that go with adonai, as a reminder to the reader to substitute that euphemism for the taboo name. By a misunderstanding, some 16th century protestants, reading hebrew texts, thought this was the way the name was pronounced so they read it as Jehovah. Not a name Jews had ever used.
As another aside, most Orthodox and some other Jews will not say “adonai ” outside prayer. They will instead say “hashem” (“the name”). A euphemism for a euphemism.
In fact some Jews will not write “God” in English, but write G-d instead. This has been condemned as silly on “Surely this Will Save Conservative Judaism” (one of two “Jewbook” groups I follow – the other being JUMTOT – Jewish Urbanist Memes for Transit Oriented Teens – both are mostly snark, and the latter has more bike focused content)
Entry #8
[ATTACH=CONFIG]27582[/ATTACH]
.
