How do we get Yah from YehovAH?

Proponents of non-Hebrew pronunciations of יהוה insist that the poetic shortened form Yah (יה) proves how to pronounce the Name of God. This is simply not true. No one is disputing that YAH is a reference to יהוה that exists in the Tanakh, although rare compared to the 6827 times יהוה is written. 42 verses in the 4 books of the Tanakh where YAH appears. Also, no one is disputing that there are many theophoric names that end in -yahu or -yah.

Concerns the origin of theophoric names, about how theophoric names begin. (Hebrew theophoric names combine a Hebrew root of specific meaning with the name Yehovah.) Yah is formed by taking the first and last letter of YehovAH (YAH) to express an abbreviation. It’s vowel is Kamatz from the emphasized final syllable of YehovAH’. To attempt to build the Name of God from its abbreviated form is like the tail wagging the dog.

By Rabbi HaTzair M. Francisco Arbas