Shemoth [Exodus] 3:13-15, 13 "then mosheh said to dedi, 'look, i will come to the sons of yisrael, and i will say to them, "the elohey of your fathers has sent me to you." and they will say to me, "what is his name?" what will i say to them?' 14 and elohiym said to mosheh, 'i am who i am'; and he said, 'so you will say to the sons of yisrael, "i am has sent me to you." ' 15 and dedi said further to mosheh, 'now you say to the sons of yisrael, " dedi, elohey of your fathers, elohey of abraham, elohey of yitschaq, and elohey of yaaqob, has sent me to you." this is my name forever, and this is my memorial for generation to generation.' "

“I am who I am,” in the Hebrew is (from right to left) did` xy` did`

Some scholars theorize that dedi is a contraction of ehyeh asher ehyeh. Personally I disagree. I think it is a contraction of another, but closely related phrase. When I was studying in the Peshitta (the Aramaic text of the “New Testament”), I noticed on the Hebrew translation side, that a phrase in Revelations, looked more like an expanded form of dedi, than I am who I am. In Revelations 1:8, " 'i am the alef and the thaw,' says dedi elohiym, 'the beginning and end, the is and was and is to come, unified, the whole.' "

In the Hebrew (right to left), “who is and who was and who is to come” –
`ade dide dedd
hahaweh (the is) hayah (the was) uhabaa (and the to come)
The bold ha is the Hebrew article “the”.

Kleins Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language defines did hayah as a parallel form of ded haweh, both meaning to be, exist.

The old form of I, in Hebrew is anokiy – ikp`, It was shortened to aniy – ip`.
Examples of this older form of “I” are Bereshiyth [Genesis] 7:4; 15:1, “ ‘I am a shield to you – anokiy magen lak; Bereshiyth 16:5, 8. The uses of anokiy are predominately in Bereshiyth [Genesis].

If the passage originally read, “I is” (essentially I am), then it would be aniy haweh (according to the vowel points that we have now. They did not have vowel points then, to indicate the vowels between the written consonants.) –
ded ip`. Neither would there be spaces between the words, so “I is” would be written dedip` aniyhaweh.

Numerous places in the Tanak, YHWH says “I Am…..”
Bereshiyth [Genesis] 15:7, “ ‘i am dedi ( aniy dedi) who caused you to come out of ur kashdiym…’ “
Shemoth [Exodus] 6:2, “ and elohiym spoke to mosheh and he said, ‘I am dedi. ‘ “
Shemoth 20:2, “ ‘I am dedi your elohey who brought you out from the land of mitsrayim.’”
YeshaYahu [Isaiah] 44:6, “ ‘….i am the first and i am the last…’ “ – aniy
YeshaYahu 48:12, “ ‘…i am he…’ “ – aniy hu `ed ip`

Several times in the Peshitta, Yahusha` said, “I am he….” `ed ip`
Mark 14:62, “ ‘…i am he…’ “ aniy hu `ed ip`
Yahuchanan [John] 6:35, “ ‘…i am he…’ “ aniy hu `ed ip`
Yahuchanan 8: 12, “ ‘…i am he…’ “ aniy hu `ed ip`
Also, Yahuchanan 8:28,58, 9:5, 10:7,11, 11:25, 14:6,10, 15:1, 18:5

Contractions with names and changes from time periods and places are not uncommon. Look at the simple name Yahuchanan. From the time period of the exile, when the scribes were changing the prefix Yahu to Yeho to Yo, Yahuchanan became Yochanan, then it became Yochan, then around the 1200’s in English, the Y became a J with a hard sound, as well as other letters dropping – John or sometimes written Jon. All of that in a little over 1500 years with much more writing and preserved texts abounding. From the time of the Exodus to the destruction of Jerusalem and that portion of the exile, it is roughly 600 years depending on when you place the Exodus and the exiles – a time period of fewer texts, even fewer preserved, the Hebrews themselves establishing, dividing and developing their own linguistics. The chances of a name being contracted are very high.

Since we do not have anything that goes back, as far as Mosheh, that is written, we do not currently know, the exact phrase, nor the contraction that came about to be dedi. I am of the belief that His Name may be different than what we are currently using. But, by all the texts that we have now, and the Aramaic and Akkadian archaeology, as well as the Greek and Latin transliterations, written by early church fathers, and the Shomeron [Samaritan] pronunciation, what we have now is not Yahweh, but rather Yahuweh – yah-oo-eh. The archaeology of names prior and just after the exile, show a large amount of Yahu prefixes and suffixes. The Akkadian transliterations of these names has it as ya-oo, Yah was a latter contraction. In many cases of Scripture, you will see that a name is written as Yahu- or –Yahu, the first time it is used, then the following spellings are those of the contraction Yah. The reason that the first is Yahu, is because that was the original, before the scribes started changing the spellings.

Until, something else is dug up or dedi reveals a different spelling and pronunciation, I have no other choice but to go with the spelling and pronunciation that was used just prior to the exile to Babel, Yahuweh. I think the main focus needs to be on the fact that dedi was pointing out that He is self existant, no beginning, no end, as in YeshaYahu 44:7, " ' ...i am beginning and i am last (also future); and except me, there are no elohiym.' "