Some rabbis asserted that a person who pronounces YHVH according to its letters (instead of using a substitute) has no place in the World to Come, and should be put to death. Instead of pronouncing the four-letter Name, we usually substitute the Name « Adonai, » or simply say « Ha-Shem » (lit. The Name). (1)
- The Ancient Name of God: The Hebrew name for God, YHWH (in Hebrew spelled yud-hay-vav-hay), is never pronounced out loud in Judaism. When it appears in Jewish scripture or liturgy, the reader substitutes the Hebrew word « adonai » which means « my lord » or often just « the Lord. »(2)
- Adonai: Among many traditional Jews even the word « adonai » is not spoken outside of prayer services. Because « adonai » is so closely linked to the name of God, over time it has been accorded more and more reverence as well. Outside of prayer services, traditional Jews will replace « adonai » with « HaShem » meaning « the Name » or some other way of referring to God without using « adonai. » (2)
ADON
In Ancient Semitic religion, specifically Canaanite religion, the term Adon (ʾdwn, Hebrew אדון, from a triliteral « hollow » root D-I-N or D-W-N, cognate with Akkadian adannu « mighty »[citation needed]), literally « lord, patron », has been in use as a theonym from the Late Bronze Age at least, contrasting with Ba`al « master ».
In Canaanite (Ugaritic) tradition, ʾadn ilm, literally « lord of gods » is an epithet of El, but ʾadn could also be an epithet of other gods, especially Tammuz. The epithet of Tammuz enters Greek tradition as a proper name, Adonis, the youthful lover of Aphrodite.
Hebrew tradition makes Adon « lord » or Adonai « my lord » an epithet of the God of Israel, depicted as the chief antagonist of « the Ba`als » in the Tanakh. The epithet came to be used as an euphemism to avoid invoking the deity’s proper name, Yahweh.
Adonis is a « Semitic divine title equipped with a Greek ending » derived from adon; by the time of Sappho, a cult worshiping Adonis had emerged in Ancient Greece.[1]
In Ugaritic texts, ʾdn in its meaning as « lord » appears a number of times. Used to refer to the lord and father over deceased kings, the term ʾadn ʾilm rbm (meaning « the Lord of the Great Gods »),[2] is thought by some scholars[who?] to be a divine epiteph of Ba`al,[dubious – discuss] while others think it refers to El, Mardikh, Yaqar or Yarikh.[3][4] ʾAdn ʾilm (meaning « the Lord of Gods ») also appears in the texts to refer to El, and when Yam is described in at being at the height of his power, he is proclaimed ʾadn or « lord (of the gods).[4]
Ugarit family households were modeled after the structure of the divine world, each headed by an ʾadn (meaning in this context « master » or « patron »). Generally, this was the patriarch of the family and there may be some relation between ʾadn and the Ugarit word for « father », ʾad.[5(3)
Adonis
The Greek Ἄδωνις (Greek pronunciation: [ˈadɔːnis]), Adōnis was a borrowing from the Semitic word adon, meaning « lord »,[2] which is related to Adonai, one of the names used to refer to the God (אֲדֹנָי) in the Hebrew Bible and still used in Judaismto the present day. Syrian Adonis is Gauas[3] or Aos, akin to Egyptian Osiris, the Semitic Tammuz and Baal Hadad, the Etruscan Atunis and the Phrygian Attis, all of whom are deities of rebirth and vegetation.[4](4)
TAMMUZ
Tammuz (Syriac: ܬܡܘܙ; Hebrew: תַּמּוּז, Transliterated Hebrew: Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew: Tammûz; Arabic: تمّوز Tammūz; Akkadian: Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian: Dumuzid (DUMU.ZI(D), « faithful or true son« ) was the name of a Sumerian god of food and vegetation, also worshiped in the later Mesopotamian states of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia
In Babylonia, the month Tammuz was established in honor of the eponymous god Tammuz, who originated as a Sumerian shepherd-god, Dumuzid or Dumuzi, the consort of Inanna and, in his Akkadian form, the parallel consort of Ishtar.
1. http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm
2. http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/Why-Do-Some-Jews-Spell-God-G-D.htm
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adon
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonis
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