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St Helen's church
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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

etymology of 'God'
Jun 04, 2003, 20:51
Bit of a tangent this... but maybe of interest to some...

I can't speak for FourWinds; but i tend to use the word "god" a lot. However it does *not* imply 'maleness' or anthropomorphise in any way.

'God' is gender-independent (it's a shame that the big monotheistic religions have co-opted the word and put a fluffy white beard on it). But i think it's too powerful and too resonant a word to leave in the hands of the 'God The Father' posse.

When you use 'Goddess', however, you're immediately ascribing gender. It's unavoidable. And 'God The Mother' seems just as foolish to me as 'God The Father'.

There are many different paths by which you can trace the origins of the word 'God'. The Anglo-Saxon word 'God' is predated by the German 'Gott'. This in turn (according to one theory; though there are others) has it's roots in the Persian word 'Khoda' which contains the two meanings: "to shine / give light" and "to implore".

Khoda is a gender-independent word, and the Anglo-Saxon translation that best renders it's meaning is: 'The Divine'. However, 'God' is it's etymological descendent, and - as i said earlier - should really be reclaimed from those monotheistic fanatics.
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