Posted by Janey on March 25, 1999 at 07:35:24 {MW/mrDAKQdkdU}:
If you read my "More fun with Jan on YHWH" you can see that he again does not answer anything, except with his usual bag of insults.
But since Real JW and Jan seem so confused about syllable division I went to the library the other day and looked into a few Greek grammars to see what they had to say.
Do It Yourself Hebrew and Greek, by Edward W. Goodrick gives this list of diphthongs (I got it right!):
ai - "i"
au - "ow"
ei - "A"
eu - "you"
oi - "as in
'oil'"
ou - "as in 'group'"
ui - "we"
There is no ie diphthong.
A Greek Grammar by William W. Goodwin says: "A Greek word has as many syllables as it has separate vowels or diphthongs."--Page 24.
He lists a ton of diphthongs and contractions on pages 8-15 but not once does he list ie as a diphthong or contraction.
James Strong, LL.D, S.T.D, in his Exhaustive Concordance under entry #2424 in his Greek Dictionary gives almost the exact same syllable division as Stafford: "ee-ay-sooce."
I noted that Jan declined AC's offer to send Stafford his arguments. But AC Jan does not have any arguments! But I will be sure to highlight Jan's refusal to discuss the matter with Stafford on my web
page.
Oh Jan, when you get a chance be sure you answer all the points I quoted from Stafford's book which you failed to answer. Especially this one.
""Anyone who cares to check the concordances will find that there is no name in the entire Scriptures that includes the Tetragrammaton and also omits the vowel that is left out in the two-syllable pronunciation [=Yahweh] Rainey upholds."
And if you ever get around to it which I know you WONT, please address this point as well.
"When it was pronounced in three syllables it would have been 'Yahowah' or 'Yahoowah.' If it was ever abbreviated to two syllables it would have been 'Yaho,' but even this spelling may have been pronounced with three syllables, including the final aspirant, because Hebrew had no vowel points in Biblical times."