where did we get the word god from? all i've been hearing is how god was referred to as yahweh. then outta nowhere we just started calling him god? why? isn't this disrespectful? do you suppose it got changed to meet more people's liking? god it kinda looks like the word good, doesn't it?
2007-04-25 03:51:19 · 11 answers · asked by just curious (A.A.A.A.) 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
to say it comes from german doesn't really say much either. it still doesn't address where we got the word from. furthermore, if you look at the etymology for the word good, you'll see that it's very similar to the etymology for the word god? i think i'm onto something here...
2007-04-25 04:30:36 · update #1
I think it was actually taken from dog...... dogs are unconditional in their love.... and they wanted a word to associate with their fictional being who supposedly is the same..... So they just took dog & reversed it! god is man's best friend!
2007-04-25 03:55:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
The English word God originated from an old Anglo-Saxon word which itself was derived from the Germanic word Gott which was used to refer to all sorts of "gods," not necessarily the True God (just as "god" still is). In English-language translations of The Holy Bible (the Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, while the New Testament mostly in Greek) "God" is used to translate a number of actual Divine Names, specific to the True God, as recorded in the Scriptures. Using "God" as a name for God rather than a statement of what He is can perhaps be compared to calling your best friend "Human" instead of by their actual name.Elohim, from the Hebrew pronounced el-oh-heem, is the most frequently recorded name for God, more than 2,500 times in the Old Testament. Elohim is actually the plural form of its root word, but singular in usage - after all, there is only one God (see The Logos).
2007-04-25 11:00:59 · answer #2 · answered by wicaphoenix2000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The true name of God is not spoken. Names have power. In the old days, the true name of God was only known by a select few.
I don't believe it offends God to call Him God.....Yahweh, Elohim. If it makes you feel uncomfortable then call Him what makes you feel comfortable. I believe when we call on All That Is, whatever the name....it carries an energy, so it goes to the right place.
Be at peace
2007-04-25 11:01:48 · answer #3 · answered by violet369 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My dear Lord God has many names. He knows when we talk to Him no matter what name we use. With my language God is Jumala.I used this word many many years..I think He hears God better ; ) ( Might have something to do with the thing that Finnish people do not use His name very often )
2007-04-25 18:15:48 · answer #4 · answered by SeeTheLight 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The English word "god" is an anglicized version of the German "gott", meaning "deity". The "tetragramatton", or "YHWH" (pronounced "yah-way") is the identification given to Moses. It means "I AM", possibly referring to God being the beginning of existence and source of life for everything.
2007-04-25 10:59:09 · answer #5 · answered by MamaBear 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God refers to Himself as the Lord your God, and I am the God of your Fathers (Exodus 3:6) IF He tells me to call Him that, I'm calling Him that!
2007-04-25 11:00:28 · answer #6 · answered by calixtreme81 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Imapenguin is correct. Germanic origins.
Here's an interesting article on the subject.
http://www.gotquestions.org/YHWH-tetragrammaton.html
2007-04-25 11:06:14 · answer #7 · answered by NickofTyme 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God rest in all names.
2007-04-25 10:59:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
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-.
"I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God, because it means that I shall be cheated and robbed and cuckolded less often. ... If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." [Voltaire]
First record of Godawful "terrible" is from 1878; God speed as a parting is from c.1470. God-fearing is attested from 1835. God bless you after someone sneezes is credited to St. Gregory the Great, but the pagan Romans (Absit omen) and Greeks had similar customs.
2007-04-25 10:55:07 · answer #9 · answered by Weird Darryl 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, "Yahweh" means "I am what i am". This makes as much sense as "God" does...
2007-04-25 10:58:56 · answer #10 · answered by son_of_enki 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋