God's names

[didishroom]

Could someone please, very directly, say what the differences are between Yahweh, Adoni, Elohim and Jehovah and the word God?

[CanadianCatholic]

different languages maybe?

[Rosarium]

Could someone please, very directly, say what the differences are between Yahweh, Adoni, Elohim and Jehovah and the word God?

Yahweh is a rendering of this:

יהוה

Which has no known meaning or pronounciation at this time, due to those who did are gone (the High Priests).

Adoni means "Lord".

Elohim refers to the divine, and is plural (a reference to the Trinity). It is superficially similiar to El, which means "god" (in a generic way just like the Germanic "god", but it specifically used to refer to God when used in the True Faith)

The word "God" is germanic, meaning "god" but used in a specific way. Many languages have a word which means something which can be used to describe God. A language like Hindi has many names for "god", however, they are highly specific at times (it would be inappropriate to translate "In the beginning God created heaven, and earth." using "Vishnu" for "God" because Vishnu refers to a specific entity by its nature). A word like  परमेश्वर can be used to refer to "God" because it is more vague and dependent on the understanding of the reader.

Jehova is a result of the transliteration of יהוה

Because it was going from a Semitic to Greek to Latin alphabet, the letters changed.

Semitic abjads do not have vowels, so the transliteration of  יהוה  to a Latin alphabet is "YHWH" (Semitic languages are formed differently and the lack of vowels is not so important, for native speakers, as words are formed with consonental roots). Because of the transliteration of it into a Latin script, it was subject to changes due to differences in languages. So for a Greek, "יהוה"  sometimes came out Ιουώ, or  Ιεού, and it going into a Latin script would be equally different. Since it was written, and how it was said was not know, and the fact that there are morphological differences in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English, its pronounciation is highly dependent on its spelling and the individuals understanding of it. "Yaweh" as an English speaker would say it is more like how it could be said in Hebrew. "Jehova" as an English speaker would say it, is not Hebrew like at all.

[AntoniusMaximus]

well there is also the name El Shaddai in the Bible, which means God of the Most High or the High places (possibly mountains, hence why mountains seem to play a role often in many OT stories).

Also, I don't like to use the name Yahweh, as Rosarium mentioned it is unknown how it is pronounced truly.  Even though there is a potential hint in Hebrew names like Matthew which has the tetragammon part of it, and in Hebrew is pronounced as Matisyahu.  So some may argue that Yahu is the proper pronounciation. 

[Rosarium]

About the various words, I do not think any of them are a "name of God" in a personal way. They are God's way of making Himself known to us in a way we can communicate.

It wasn't until the coming of Christ was there are personal name of God. The Father, the Son (Word, Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. For God to have a single name wouldn't make much sense, as words are our way of communicating, either by marks on objects or by making vibrations in the air with our body.

It is the meaning which is important, not the actual sounds and marks. "Jesus" is a Germanic way of saying the name ישוע which is Aramaic would not resemble our way of saying "Jesus" at all (the first consonent in an English "Y" and the second is our "sh", vowels are variable and are not actually known precisely as pronounciation changes. How Mary (Miriam) actually said His name cannot be known. Semitic languages change greatly in their pronounciation of vowels. Also, most English names came filtered through Greek, then Latin. Both writing systems are poor at representing Semitic languages. The fact that "Jesus" as we say it in English doesn't have any of the original consonents and the vowels are not known does not diminish the Name because of its meaning.

[glgas]

Could someone please, very directly, say what the differences are between Yahweh, Adoni, Elohim and Jehovah and the word God?

Yahweh is the Tetragrammaton, the name as God ordered Moses to call Him,  It means I am who am. (ego sum qui sum )

Adonai menas Lord (owner) in Hebrew, Elohim means God, this is common Semitic word

Jehowah is the transliteration of the the tetragrammaton. After the captivity in Babilon the Judaism forbade the pronuntiation
of the tetragrammaton, so when the read the Bible that name was replaced by the word Elohim or Adonai, and when the punctation
(representing the vowels in the writing) came in, that vowels were attached to the YHWH consonants.

[SoCalLocal]

God's name is Howard.

Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name.