Jehovah

See also: Jéhovah

English

Etymology

Transliteration of Hebrew יְהֹוָה (yəhōwā), the Masoretic vocalization of the Biblical Hebrew יהוה (variously pronounced). The Masoretic vocalization is a so-called qere perpetuum, the deliberate insertion of the vowels of another word than the one represented by the consonant text, in this case אֲדֹנָי (“my lord”) ('Adonai').

Continuing earlier Iehoua. In English, the name is first attested in 1530, in Tyndale's Bible: I appeared vnto Abraham Isaac and Iacob an allmightie God: but in my name Iehouah was I not knowne vnto them (Exodus 6:3). Tyndale used Iehouah instead of Wycliffe's Adonay. The KJV also has Jehovah in this verse specifically, while it uses Lord otherwise. Young's Literal Translation (1898) has Jehovah. The New King James Version (1982) has Lord.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈhoʊ.və/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈhəʊ.və/
• enPR: jə-hōˈ-və
• Rhymes: -əʊvə
• Hyphenation: Je‧ho‧vah

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Jehovah

1. (religion) The personal name of God in the Hebrew Scriptures; in Hebrew, יהוה (YHVH)
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 6:2–3:

     2 And God spake vnto Moses, and said vnto him, I am the Lord.
     3 And I appeared vnto Abraham, vnto Isaac, and vnto Iacob, by the Name of God Almighty, but by my name IEHOVAH was I not knowen to them.

   • 2015 July 11, Kimberly Winston, “Serena Williams’ secret weapon: The surprising faith of the Wimbledon champ”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2015-07-14, Acts of Faith‎^[2]:

     After Serena Williams’ win at Wimbledon today, she will likely say — as she usually does after a big win — “I want to thank Jehovah God.” […]
     “I have to thank Jehovah God for this,” Serena Williams told the crowd after receiving the trophy at the Australian Open in January, her sixth win there.

   • 1979, Scene 5: Premature Ejection, in Monty Python's Life of Brian, spoken by High Priest (John Cleese):

     Stop! Stop, will you?! Stop that! Stop it! Now, look! No one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle! Do you understand?! Even, and I want to make this absolutely clear, even if they do say Jehovah.

Derived terms

• Jehovist

Descendants

• → Tokelauan: Ieova

Translations

transliteration of the Masoretic vocalization of the Tetragrammaton

• Afrikaans: Jehovah
• Albanian: Jehovai
• Arabic: يَهْوَه m (yahwah), يهوه m (yahwa)
• Armenian: Եհովա (hy) (Ehova)
• Asturian: Xehová
• Azerbaijani: Yehova
• Basque: Yahveh
• Belarusian: Его́ва m (Jehóva)
• Bulgarian: Йехо́ва (bg) m (Jehóva)
• Catalan: Jehovà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 耶和華 / 耶和华 (je⁴ wo⁴ waa⁴)

  Eastern Min: 耶和華 / 耶和华 (Ià-huò-huà), 雅威 (Ngā-ŭi)

  Hakka: Yâ-fò-fà

  Hokkien: 耶和華 / 耶和华 (Iâ-hô-hoa)

  Mandarin: 耶和華 / 耶和华 (zh) (Yēhéhuá)

• Cornish: Yehovah
• Danish: Jehova
• Dutch: Jehova (nl) m
• Esperanto: Jehovo (eo)
• Estonian: Jehoova
• Fijian: Jiova
• Finnish: Jehova (fi)
• French: Jéhovah (fr)
• Friulian: Jeova
• Galician: Xehová
• Georgian: იეჰოვა (iehova)
• German: Jehova (de)
• Greek: Ιεχωβά (el) m (Iechová), Ιεχοβά (el) m (Iechová), Γιεχωβά (el) m (Giechová)

  Ancient: Ιεηωουα (Ieēōoua)

• Gujarati: યહોવા (yahovā)
• Gun: Jehovah (guw)
• Haitian Creole: Jewova
• Hebrew: יְהֹוָה (he) m (yahwe)
• Igbo: Jehova, Jehovah
• Indonesian: Yehuwa
• Interlingua: Jehovah
• Italian: Geova (it)
• Japanese: エホバ (Ehoba)
• Kannada: ಯೆಹೋವಾ (yehōvā)
• Kazakh: Құдай Ие (Qūdai İe), Иеһова (İehova)
• Khmer: យេហូវ៉ា (yeihouvaa)
• Korean: 여호와 (ko) (Yeohowa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: یەهۆوا (yehowa)

  Northern Kurdish: Yehowa (ku)

• Latin: Iehova, Iova m
• Lithuanian: Jehova
• Macedonian: Јехо́ва m (Jehóva)
• Malagasy: Jehovah (mg)
• Malayalam: യഹോവ (ml) (yahōva)
• Maltese: Ġeħova
• Manx: Yahvey m
• Maori: Ihowā
• Mingrelian: იეჰოვა (iehova), ჲაჰვე (yahve)
• Mirandese: Jeobá
• Navajo: Jiihóvah
• Ossetian: Йегъовӕ (Jeǧovæ)
• Pangasinan: Jehova
• Polish: Jehowa (pl) m
• Portuguese: Jeová (pt) m
• Quechua: Yihowa m
• Russian: Иего́ва (ru) m (Ijegóva)
• Rwanda-Rundi: Yehova
• Samoan: Ieova
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Јехова m

  Roman: Jehova (sh) m

• Sicilian: Javè m
• Spanish: Jehová (es) m, Jehovah m
• Swahili: Yehova
• Swedish: Jehova, Jehovah
• Tagalog: Jehova, Jehovah
• Tamil: ஜெஹோவா (jehōvā), யாவே (yāvē)
• Tatar: Йәһвә (Yähwä)
• Telugu: యెహోవా (yehōvā)
• Thai: พระยาห์เวห์ (phrayawe), พระเยโฮวาห์ (phrayehowa), พระยะโฮวา (phra yahowa)
• Tongan: Jihova
• Turkish: Yehova (tr), Yehovah
• Ukrainian: Єго́ва m (Jehóva), Ягве (Jahve)
• Uzbek: Yahova
• Vietnamese: Giê-hô-va (vi), Jehovah
• Welsh: Jehofa
• Xhosa: uYehova
• Zulu: uJehova

Yahweh — see Yahweh

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} Jehova m

Noun

Jehovah (plural Jehovahs)

1. (informal) A Jehovah's Witness.

   I've never had Jehovahs at my door, but the other day two Mormons came to my door.

Translations

Jehovah's Witness — see Jehovah's Witness

See also

• hallelujah
• Jah
• Yahuwah
• Yahweh
• Yehovah
• YHWH

Afrikaans

Proper noun

Jehovah

1. Jehovah

Portuguese

Proper noun

Jehovah m

1. Archaic spelling of Jeová.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xeˈoba/ [xeˈo.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: Je‧ho‧vah

Proper noun

Jehovah m

1. Alternative form of Jehová