The word Jehovist derives from the formation of the documentary hypothesis, where it describes a purported writer of one interwoven portion of the torah, known as the Jahwist, who preferentially used the Tetragrammaton for the name of God, rather than choosing El, or derivatives such as Elohim. It has been since extended to anyone who uses the word Jehovah as the name of God, whether in worship or in Biblical transmission (writing or translation), and then later was used openly in regard to worshippers of the Deity, for example Jehovah's Witnesses. The documentary hypothesis is a hypothesis proposed by many historians and academics in the field of linguistics and source criticism that the Five Books of Moses (the Torah) are in fact a combination of documents from different sources rather than authored by one individual. ... Torah () is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or law. ... The Jahwist, also referred to as the Jehovist, Yahwist, or simply as J, is one of the sources of the Torah postulated by the documentary hypothesis. ... This is a designation for the name Yahweh, which redirects here. ...

In more recent years, the term came to be used to indicate a supporter of the translation of the tetragrammaton as Jehovah, compared with those who cling to its pronunciation as Yahweh being Yahwists.