Yahweh and the Samaritan pronunciation of the tetragrammaton

Statements by Theodoret of Cyrrhus (around 450) that the Samaritans pronounce the Tetragrammaton IABe are commonly cited as proof for "Yahweh" as the original pronunciation of the divine name. However, Ben-Hayyim demon-strated that the Samaritans have used šěmá ("the name") as a circumlocution for the Tetragrammaton since at least the fourth century CE. A statement in the Jerusalem Talmud about Samaritans making oaths with the Tetragrammaton "according to its letters" may refer to pronouncing the names of each of its four letters yod-he-vav-he (yut-i-ba-i in Samaritan Hebrew), a practice documented in later Samaritan poetry. Beginning in the Hellenistic (or Roman) period, the Dositheans distinguished them¬selves from mainstream Samaritans by using ěluwwam (Elohim) instead of šěmá. A Samaritan letter recorded by Josephus, dated to 166 BCE, is best understood as referring to Mount Gerizim as the "Temple of the ineffable [name]," confirming that the Samaritans had ceased pronouncing the Tetragrammaton at least six cen¬turies before Theodoret. Hence, Theodoret's IABe should not be taken to represent a "living tradition" of the Samaritan pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton.