Earliest attestation of the Germanic word in the 6th century Codex Argenteus (Mt 5:9)

The English word god continues the Old English god (guþ, gudis in Gothic, gud in modern Scandinavian, God in Dutch, and Gott in modern German), which derives from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđán. The Codex Argenteus (or "Silver Bible" is a 6th century manuscript originally containing bishop Ulfilas 's 4th century translation of the Bible The Gospel of Matthew (Gk Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον is one of the four Canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a Synoptic gospel English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English

Proto-Germanic meaning

The Proto-Germanic meaning of *ǥuđán and its etymology is uncertain. It is generally agreed that it derives from a Proto-Indo-European neuter passive perfect participle *ǵʰu-tó-m. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite This form within (late) Proto-Indo-European itself was possibly ambiguous, either derived from a root *ǵʰeu̯- "to pour, libate" (Sanskrit huta, see hotṛ), or from a root *ǵʰau̯- (*ǵʰeu̯h₂-) "to call, to invoke" (Sanskrit hūta). Priests of the Vedic religion were officiants of the ''yajna'' service Sanskrit hutá = "having been sacrificed", from the verb root hu = "sacrifice", but a smallish shift of meaning could give the meaning "one who sacrifices are made to".

Depending on which possibility is preferred, the pre-Christian meaning of the Germanic term may either have been (in the "pouring" case) "libation" or "that which is libated upon, idol" — or, as Watkins^[1] opines in the light of Greek χυτη γαια "poured earth" meaning "tumulus", "the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" — or (in the "invoke" case) "invocation, prayer" (compare the meanings of Sanskrit brahman) or "that which is invoked". Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. A libation (spondee in Greek) is a Ritual pouring of a drink as an offering to a god. In the practice of Religion, a cult image is a man-made object that is venerated for the Deity, spirit or Daemon that it embodies or represents A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a Mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism.

Germanic tribes

A significant number of scholars have connected this root with the names of three related Germanic tribes: the Geats, the Goths and the Gutar. The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic Geats, Geatas, Gautar, Goths, Gotar, Gøtar, Götar were a North Germanic tribe inhabiting Götaland The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s The Gotlanders are the population of the island of Gotland. In Swedish they are also called Gutar an ethnonym identical to Goths ( These names may be derived from an eponymous chieftain Gaut, who was subsequently deified. non '''Gautr''' '''Gauti''' '''Guti''' Gothus and Geats are name forms based on the same Proto-Germanic root *gem ǥuđ- (see god He also sometimes appears in early Medieval sagas as a name of Odin or one of his descendants, a former king of the Geats (Gaut(i)), an ancestor of the Gutar (Guti), of the Goths (Gothus) and of the royal line of Wessex (Geats) and as a previous hero of the Goths (Gapt). The sagas (from Icelandic saga, plural sögur) are stories about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history about early Viking voyages Odin (ˈoʊdɪn from Old Norse Óðinn) is considered the chief god in Norse paganism. The Gotlanders are the population of the island of Gotland. In Swedish they are also called Gutar an ethnonym identical to Goths ( West Saxon redirects here For other meanings of Wessex or West Saxon see Wessex (disambiguation. The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s The Lombardic form of Odin, Godan, may derive from cognate Proto-Germanic *ǥuđánaz. Lombardic or Langobardic is the extinct language of the Lombards ( Langobardi) the Germanic speaking settlers in Italy in the Proto-Germanic, or Common Germanic, is the hypothetical common ancestor ( Proto-language) of all the Germanic languages such as modern English

Translations

The name God was used to represent Greek Theos, Latin Deus in Bible translations, first in the Gothic translation of the New Testament by Ulfilas. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Theos may refer to Theos ( is the Greek word for " Deity, God " see God (word, Names of God Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. DeuS (Brut Des Flandres is a premium Belgian beer manufactured in Buggenhout, Belgium. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Wulfila is also a spider genus ( Anyphaenidae) Wulfila (meaning "little wolf" (ca For the etymology of deus, see *dyēus. * Dyēus (also * Dyēus ph2ter) is the reconstructed chief deity of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon.

Greek theos is unrelated, and of uncertain origin. It is often connected with Latin feriae "holidays", fanum "temple", and also Armenian di-k` "gods". Alternative suggestions (e. g. by De Saussure) connect *dhu̯es- "smoke, spirit", attested in Baltic and Germanic words for "spook," and ultimately cognate with Latin fumus "smoke. Ferdinand de Saussure (fɛʁdinɑ̃ də soˈsyːʁ ( November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913) was a Swiss linguist "

Capitalization

KJV of 1611 (Psalms 23:1,2): Occurrence of "LORD" (and "God" in the heading)

The development of English orthography was dominated by Christian texts. Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Capitalized, "God" was first used to refer to the Judeo-Christian concept and may now signify any monotheistic conception of God, including the translations of the Arabic Allāh and the African Masai Engai. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Allah ( Arabic: الله, ʔalˤːɑːh) is the standard Arabic word for ' The Maasai are an indigenous African Ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Ngai ( Enkai, En-kai, Engai, Eng-ai, Mweai, Mwiai) is the supreme God in the religions of the Kamba

• Adonai YHWH as "Lord GOD"
• YHWH Elohim as "LORD God"
• κυριος ο θεος As "LORD God" (in the New Testament)

The use of capitalization, as for a proper noun, has persisted to disambiguate the concept of a singular God, specifically the Christian God, from pagan deities for which lower case god has continued to be applied, mirroring the use of Latin deus. See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen Elohim ( אֱלוֹהִים, אלהים) is a Hebrew word which expresses concepts of Divinity. Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world Pronouns referring to God are also often capitalized and are traditionally in the masculine gender, i. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong e. "He", "His" etc. ^[2]

See also

See El (god) and YHWH for discussions of the Hebrew names for God. Eli (Hebrew אל is the Northwest Semitic word and name either translated into English as "god" or "God" or left untranslated as Eli, depending See also Yahweh Tetragrammaton (from the Greek, meaning ' of four letters' (tetra "four" + gramma (gen

References

See also

• Names of God