Open questions · help wanted
What the evidence cannot yet tell us These are the questions the corpus cannot answer yet. Each lists the evidence that would move it forward. If you can supply it, open a submission tied to the question.
Q01 High priority
Which securely dated witness first uses independent YHW, rather than a personal-name component? Why it matters Determines whether shortened theonym is early. Evidence needed Primary dated inscriptions; textual critical editions; excavation context. Q02 High priority
Did YHWH precede YHW or YHW precede YHWH? Why it matters Different developmental narratives. Evidence needed Chronological corpus and explanatory phonological derivation. Q03 High priority
What is the exact Clement Laurentianus Greek letter sequence? Why it matters Often cited but potentially editorially altered. Evidence needed High-resolution manuscript + complete critical apparatus. Q04 High priority
What is earliest secure evidence for Iaoue independently of Clement? Why it matters Tests direct vowel reconstruction. Evidence needed Dated Greek manuscripts, patristic textual editions. Q05 High priority
Did Greek ΙΑΩ record a full theonym or contracted one? Why it matters Central to interpretation of Qumran. Evidence needed Translation strategy comparative corpus; 4Q120 editorial history. Q06 High priority
How were Hebrew waw and word-final he pronounced in Iron Age Judah and Israel? Why it matters Critical consonant and vowel assumptions. Evidence needed Comparative Northwest Semitic phonology and foreign transcriptions. Q07 High priority
What grammatical derivations of YHWH from *hwy/*hyh are regular? Why it matters Avoid ad hoc vowel assignment. Evidence needed Historical morphology and sound laws. Q08 High priority
How do Yeho-, Yo-, -yahu, -yah distributions vary with period and geography? Why it matters Might uncover diachronic pattern. Evidence needed Epigraphic corpus tagged by place and secure date. Q10 High priority
How accurately did Theodoret represent the Samaritans he described? Why it matters Historical source reliability. Evidence needed Samaritan liturgical texts, textual criticism, late-antique polemical context. Q11 High priority
Can an alternative form such as Yahwoh predict independently attested transcriptions? Why it matters Tests minority theory quantitatively. Evidence needed Original Caquot paper, phonological modeling. Q12 High priority
Is Egyptian Shasu Yhw connected to the divine name at all? Why it matters May alter the earliest chronological evidence. Evidence needed Egyptological philology, toponymic corpus, contextual archaeology. Q13 High priority
Is the final he a vowel letter, consonant, or historical trace? Why it matters Crucial to Yahweh/Yahwah/Yahwoh. Evidence needed Comparative orthography and transcriptions. Q14 High priority
Which forms can be rejected by regular sound changes rather than subjective plausibility? Why it matters Falsifiability of candidate testing. Evidence needed Explicit phonological constraints and corpus-based evaluation. Q09 Medium priority
What can later Masoretic pointing genuinely preserve about Iron Age vowels? Why it matters Distinguishes ancient spoken forms from reading tradition. Evidence needed Vocalization manuscript comparison and qere studies. Q15 Medium priority
Can scholars devise a non-circular confidence score for candidate reconstructions? Why it matters Avoids circular evidence selection. Evidence needed Blinded candidate scoring by multiple experts with preregistered criteria. Q16 Medium priority
How does theological wordplay in Exodus relate to historical etymology? Why it matters Separates literary semantics from historical morphology. Evidence needed Comparative readings and literary diachronic study. Q17 Medium priority
Were multiple pronunciations used by different communities simultaneously? Why it matters Avoids false single-pronunciation assumption. Evidence needed Samaritan, Aramaic, Jewish-Greek parallel witnesses. Q18 Medium priority
Which name glosses are secure, and which have unresolved Hebrew verbal roots? Why it matters Prevents hidden false certainty in onomastics. Evidence needed Individual philological dictionaries and edition notes.