YHWH, the ineffable name : avoidance, alternations and circumventions in the non-biblical manuscripts at Qumran

During the period of the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) was so sacred that it had become an ineffable name. This thesis studies alternations in the usage of the Tetragrammaton in non-biblical manuscripts at Qumran through an analysis of scriptural quotations from the Torah to the Nevi'im in the Dead Sea Scrolls citing the Tetragrammaton. Thirty-three distinctive divine name alternations were identified. Additionally, a list of alternation types and of scrolls featuring alternations in Qumran were compiled. Distinctive groups of scrolls were identified at Qumran: some featured the Tetragrammaton, with or without alternations, and some circumvented it completely. Our study focuses on the avoidance of the Tetragrammaton, on alternations in square script, and on writing traditions: El, Tetrapuncta and paleo-Hebrew. Two applications were then investigated: the use of alternations in divine names in order to determine the scrolls' origins and the distribution of names in paleo-Hebrew in these scrolls.