HoustonHorn Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Ok, random question. Why is it that the Christian God is referred to as God when all the other gods have names? Yes, I know that God has names too; but it's generally not used. Is it because we're in an area that is predominantly Christian, so when someone refers to God it's just assumed that they mean the Christian one? If I was talking about God in a mainly Islamic area would they assume I was talking about Allah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benjaburns Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 From www.etymonline.com god Look up god at Dictionary.com O.E. god "supreme being, deity," from P.Gmc. *guthan (cf. Du. god, Ger. Gott, O.N. guð, Goth. guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Skt. huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to- "poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Gk. khein "to pour," khoane "funnel" and khymos "juice;" also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins]. Not related to good. Originally neut. in Gmc., the gender shifted to masc. after the coming of Christianity. O.E. god was probably closer in sense to L. numen. A better word to translate deus might have been P.Gmc. *ansuz, but this was only used of the highest deities in the Gmc. religion, and not of foreign gods, and it was never used of the Christian God. It survives in Eng. mainly in the personal names beginning in Os-. So, originally "God" had a slightly different sense but with the coming of Christianity it happened that, when people used the word "God" they most often referred to Yahweh and thus the word became his name. Also, technically "Allah" literally means "the god" so yea, in an Islamic country when you said "god" you would be saying "allah" even if you didn't mean the name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I think the reason most people just say God is because it's quicker, like saying Bob instead of Robert, or Bill instead of William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saxyroze Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I actually read an explanation of the history of the word “God” in this book, ironically, a book about Islam. I typed out the paragraph where the author delves into the history…so if there’s any typos...it's my fault. I’m not sure how accurate it is because I’ve never really studied the word’s history very much but it does make sense. Given that King James arranged the bible we use today, it makes sense that he would use the English name for God. “There are some Muslims who believe that the Creator should not be referred to as “God” citing Allah as the only “true” proper name for God. The word “God”, however, is a beautiful prehistoric word, dating back to at least the Neolithic period. It is derived from the proto-Indo-European root word gheo, which means “to invoke” or “to supplicate.” In fact, the word “God” is a past participle (forgive our delving into a bit of grammar here), and thus it means “the one who is invoked” or “the one who is called upon.” It is very similar to the meaning of the words Elohim, Alaha and Allah. The English word “God” dates back to before Christianity and its earliest documented use is in the poem Beowulf. This poem is the oldest in the English language and is the earliest European vernacular epic. Therefore, anyone who claims that the word “God” is not an authentic name for the Creator is ignorant of the word itself and has no understanding of how ancient and beautiful the word “God” truly is.”Pg. 21 in The Beliefnet guide to Islam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dhampir Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I've also read that the term god is used in place of the given name of the Judeo-christian god because in antiquity, the Jews didn't believe that the Tetragrammaton should be invoked so frequently, that it was too sacred to be spoken. They therefore replaced the trum with various others. Additionally, although 'Yahweh' is the most correct pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, it is unknown whether it is the exact pronunciation, given the vague nature of ancient Hebrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted May 18, 2006 Share Posted May 18, 2006 I think it was originally out of some superstition that you couldn't use god's name. Maybe stemming from the "god's name in vain" thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts