Origin of the Word God. God is the name of a Deity

Oddly, the exact history of the word God is unknown. All that we know for certain is that the word God is a relatively new European invention, which was never used in any of the ancient Judaeo-Christian scripture manuscripts which were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin. This situation is quite remarkable, since there is a long history of people arguing and fighting over the name of God, yet we don't even know where the word came from! According to the best efforts of linguists and researchers, the most common theory is that the root of the present word God  is the Sanskrit word hu which means to call upon, invoke, implore. Nonetheless, it is also interesting to note the strong similarity to the ancient Persian word for God which isKhoda (or Khuda). The following is a survey of some of the efforts of the linguists who have been trying to decipher the ancient roots of the word God: Webster's 1913 Dictionary: \God\ (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf. {Goodbye}, {Gospel}, {Gossip}.]             http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/god   Catholic Encyclopedia: Etymology of the Word "God" (Anglo-Saxon God; German Gott; akin to Persian khoda ...). God can variously be defined as: the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship; the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered; the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god. The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu; Sanskrit hub or emu, "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to." From different Indo-Germanic roots (div, "to shine" or "give light"; thes in thessasthai "to implore") come the Indo-Iranian deva, Sanskrit dyaus (gen. divas), Latin deus, Greek theos, Irish and Gaelic dia, all of which are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios, Latin Jupiter (jovpater), Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday), Latin Janus, Diana, and other proper names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or mighty one."             http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06608x.htm Oxford English Dictionary: "god (gρd). Also 3-4 godd. [Com. Teut.: OE. god (masc. in sing.; pl. godu, godo neut., godas masc.) corresponds to OFris., OS., Du. god masc., OHG. got, cot (MHG. got, mod.Ger. gott) masc., ON. goð, guðneut. and masc., pl. goð, guð neut. (later Icel. pl. guðir masc.; Sw., Da. gud), Goth. guÞ (masc. in sing.; pl.guÞa, guda neut.). The Goth. and ON. words always follow the neuter declension, though when used in the Christian sense they are syntactically masc. The OTeut. type is therefore *guđom neut., the adoption of the masculine concord being presumably due to the Christian use of the word. The neuter sb., in its original heathen use, would answer rather to L. numen than to L. deus. Another approximate equivalent of deus in OTeut. was *ansu-z (Goth. in latinized pl. form anses, ON. ρss, OE. Ós- in personal names, ésa genit. pl.); but this seems to have been applied only to the higher deities of the native pantheon, never to foreign gods; and it never came into Christian use.  The ulterior etymology is disputed. Apart from the unlikely hypothesis of adoption from some foreign tongue, the OTeut. *gubom implies as its pre-Teut. type either *ghudho-m or *ghutó-m. The former does not appear to admit of explanation; but the latter would represent the neut. of the passive pple. of a root *gheu-.  There are two Aryan roots of the required form (both *glheu, with palatal aspirate): one meaning ‘to invoke’ (Skr. hū), the other ‘to pour, to offer sacrifice’ (Skr. hu, Gr. χέειν, OE. yéotan YETE v.). Hence *glhutó-m has been variously interpreted as ‘what is invoked’ (cf. Skr. puru-hūta ‘much-invoked’, an epithet of Indra) and as ‘what is worshipped by sacrifice’ (cf. Skr. hutá, which occurs in the sense ‘sacrificed to’ as well as in that of ‘offered in sacrifice’). Either of these conjectures is fairly plausible, as they both yield a sense practically coincident with the most obvious definition deducible from the actual use of the word, ‘an object of worship’. Some scholars, accepting the derivation from the root *glheu- to pour, have supposed the etymological sense to be ‘molten image’ (= Gr. χυγόν), but the assumed development of meaning seems very unlikely.             transcribed from The Oxford English Dictionary Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary: god \God\ (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf. Goodbye, Gospel, Gossip.] 1. A being conceived of as possessing supernatural power, and to be propitiated by sacrifice, worship, etc.; a divinity; a deity; an object of worship; an idol. He maketh a god, and worshipeth it. --Is. xliv. 15. The race of Israel . . . bowing lowly down To bestial gods. --Milton. 2. The Supreme Being; the eternal and infinite Spirit, the Creator, and the Sovereign of the universe; Jehovah.             http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=god American Heritage Dictionary: GOD NOUN: 1. God a. A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions. b. The force, effect, or a manifestation or aspect of this being. 2. A being of supernatural powers or attributes, believed in and worshiped by a people, especially a male deity thought to control some part of nature or reality. 3. An image of a supernatural being; an idol. 4. One that is worshiped, idealized, or followed: Money was their god. 5. A very handsome man. 6. A powerful ruler or despot. ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Old English. See gheu(): in APPENDIX I APPENDIX I:   ENTRY: gheu()- DEFINITION: To call, invoke. Oldest form *heu()-, becoming *gheu()- in centum languages. Suffixed zero-grade form *ghu-to-, “the invoked,” god. a. god, from Old English god, god; b. giddy, from Old English gydig, gidig, possessed, insane, from Germanic *gud-iga-, possessed by a god; c. götterdämmerung, from Old High German got, god. a–c all from Germanic *gudam, god. (Pokorny hau- 413.)              http://www.bartleby.com/61/21/G0172100.html An Additional On-Line Reference: Word origin:  God - Our word god goes back via Germanic to Indo-European, in which a corresponding ancestor form meant “invoked one.”  The word’s only surviving non-Germanic relative is Sanskrit hu, invoke the gods, a form which appears in the Rig Veda, most ancient of Hindu scriptures:  puru-hutas,  “much invoked,” epithet of the rain-and-thunder god Indra. (From READER’S DIGEST, Family Word Finder, page 351) (Originally published by The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville New York,    Montreal;  Copyright  1975) Now if the sources noted above are accurate, then the word that we use for the Supreme Being, God, comes from a very pagan origin.  Thus the word god is used generically by many different religions to refer to their deity or “invoked one.”  Some may laugh at the notion, the very idea that the word “God” has any origin or association with Hindu Sanskrit.  To illustrate how this is possible, we again quote from ‘Family Word Finder’ on the historical development of our Modern English language: Page 7, ‘Word Origins’ - “English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages, which consists of about 100 related tongues, all descended from prehistoric language of a pastoral, bronze working, horse breeding people, the Aryans, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia about 4500 B.C.  Scholars refer to their language at this stage as proto-Indo-European, or simply Indo-European.             http://www.bibleanswerstand.org/God.htm

Contact: ----- Richard Shelquist (wahiduddin) ---- Colorado, USA

God, who is Gawd who is Gad

God, who is Gawd, who is Gad

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Is “God” a name?
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The original text indicates the word for our Creator is Elohim or Yahweh (Jehovah, depending on the pronunciation).
Those in the middle east still keep the “el” or “al” sounds as the word for the Creator.
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Where did the English word “God” come from?
One unsettling explanation is here:
Isaiah 65:11

But you are those who forsake the Lord,
Who forget my holy mountain,
Who prepare table for Gad.
And who furnish a drink offering for Meni.

The words God (English) and Gad (Hebrew) are pronounced exactly the same way: “Gawd”
God / Gawd / Gad was a pagan deity, so why do we call the Father in heaven by this pagan name?
Scripture says we should not defile his name, or even speak the name of another god, which would give it recognition and possible merit.

Exd 23:13 And in all [things] that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

So, why are we pronouncing the name of God / Gawd / Gad?
Deut 12:3-4 says that we should, instead, destroy the images and names of false gods:

And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire: you shall cut down their carved images of the gods and destroy their names from that place.

The Lord indicates that only by his name are we saved.
I am wondering how many useless prayers are made to “God / Gawd / Gad.”
This word has no power, no redemption. There may be no answer to these prayers as well.
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–
Conclusion:
In our prayers, we should be using the proper names Yahweh / Jehovah to indicate the correct deity to whom we are praying.
In our conversation, we should not use the term “God,” but the proper name of Yahweh, or Jehovah, instead.
Otherwise, we appear to be corrupting the name of Yahweh, or making reference to a different deity.
*** When in doubt, address the Father, in Jesus name. Not even the Jews know how to pronounce the name of the Creator, so they just call Him “Hashem,” or “The Name.”
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Another website that addresses this issue:
http://www.illuminati-news.com/god-is-satan.htm
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Major References That Prove God Is Gad A Pagan Deity:
Gad – A 15th Century Of God
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561509118
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Gad – etymology, a form of Godhttp://www.allwords.com/query.php?SearchType=3&Keyword=Gad&goquery=Find+it%21&Language=ENG
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“Gad is another ordinary common noun in Hebrew. It means ‘good luck’. We all want as much of it as we can get. So it is not surprising that it became a proper noun, the name of some people, a tribe of Israel, and a god. The god Gad was not ordinarily identified with Baal. But the identities of ancient Mediterranean gods were quite fluid, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the two deities were identified with each other somewhere at some time.”
http://beth-abraham.org/baal.html
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The Correction Definition Of The Word God:
“Gad is a Syrian or Canaanite deity of good luck or fortune. In Hebrew, it is written GD, but with Massoretic vowel-pointing, it is “Gad.” Other Scriptural references to a similar deity, also written GD, have a vowel-pointing giving us “Gawd” or “God.” Gad, or Gawd is identified with Jupiter, the Sky-deity or the Sun-deity. “
http://www.assemblyoftrueisrael.com/IsJesusGod/thewordgod.html

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God, The Original Dead-Beat-Dad

God is the original “Dead Beat Dad.”  Of course, I don’t buy into the myth that The Christ was born to a virgin.  This idea of a Messiah was a long standing myth of Jews that was created about 2000 years before the birth of Jesus.  In fact, there does not appear to be any direct connection between Jesus the person and the myth (birth of Christ).  Jesus was not the only man who claimed to be The Christ.  Jesus himself believed that John the Baptist was the chosen one (The Christ) and not him.    But that is not the story.  The story is the myth itself that the chosen one would be born of a virgin immaculately conceived by the Holy Spirit.  For the sake of discussion, let’s say that God was the father.  Now, he did not originally discuss this with Joseph to whom Mary was betrothed.  He just knocked Mary up.  According to Biblical scholars, Mary was no more than 14 to 15 years of age, a mere child.  However, she was promised to Joseph – being that his wife had died and he was a man of sufficient means to take on another wife.  After God impregnated Mary, and we must say impregnated because she gave birth in the flesh, not in the spirit.  After a few months she began to gain weight and protrude as if she was pregnant.  Joseph became concerned and frankly was originally outraged. The village began to gossip.  God, being the “player” and dead beat dad that he was did not take direct responsibility himself, but sent one of his angels to speak to Joseph.  Can you imaging, God speaking like Captain Kirk, hey Gabriel, this Joseph guy is pretty upset.  Look, God said to his subordinate (angel), this guy Joseph is an ignorant goat herder who does not understand space and technology, just appear before him and he will freak-out.  Tell him it is the promise to the Jews of the legend that a messiah would be born to a virgin and Mary has been chosen. So the angel appears before Joseph and convinces Joseph that this is the myth come true.  Now, in the tradition of the dead beat dad, God only shows up periodically to help Jesus out or to satisfy his own ego.  He was not even there for the birth.  He (God) let the boy be born in an old cave with animals around; nor did he provide any child support, but let Joseph, the step-father, raise and care for the child and teach him to be a carpenter until he, Jesus, decided to become a Rabbi.   In fact, God rarely shows up until Jesus has begun to get some popularity.  God must love NBA basketball, because he could relate to some of the players very well.  Many of them experience that their biological fathers rarely show up until they become famous, like Shaquille O’Neal’s (Shaq) biological father.  Shaq’s biological father had the audacity to allow himself to be interviewed by a major network and say that Shaq represented his genes.  This was the same as the dead beat dad - God.    Even in Jesus’ darkest hour, when Jesus said, “father has thou forsaken me”, God did not show up, but allowed Jesus to be tortured on the cross by the Romans, and believe me, crucifixion is a horrible way to die.   If God is indeed the father of Jesus and has all the power he possesses, then he is a cruel and dead beat dad.

Exerpt from"Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through Discovery of the Non-existence of God" by Dr. Arthur R Byrd

During the one year I underwent chemotherapy, I faced the issue of whether I would die from the cancer.  At no time did I consider God as an answer.  I am reminded of Christopher Hitchens, who said as he was approaching death.  In his fragmentary jottings, published in the Daily Telegraph, he wrote: ‘I am not fighting or battling cancer, it is fighting me. My two assets were my pen and my voice.’…

Hitchens knew he was dying but saw the funny side of all the glowing praise for his literary work. “Now so many tributes that it also seems that rumors of my LIFE have also been greatly exaggerated.”

Lived to see most of what’s going to be written about me: this too is exhilarating, but hits diminishing returns when I realize how soon it, too will be “background.

He wrote: ‘Those who say I am being punished are saying that god can’t think of anything more vengeful than cancer for a heavy smoker.’

…

He maintained his devout atheism after being diagnosed with cancer, telling one interviewer: ‘No evidence or argument has yet been presented which would change my mind. But I like surprises.

The above information was taken from the following website. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/08/19/christopher-hitchens-last-words/

Excerpt from Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through Discovery of the Non-existence of God, by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd

An excerpt from Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through the Discovery of the Non-existence of God, by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd.  (Chapter 3, Humor)

What’s in the Name Jesus and Christianity

Not only his image, but the very name of “Jesus” is a substitute (interpretation). Many people are transfixed by the mere sound of the name, “JESUS.  This name Jesus is relatively new.  The name Jesus did not appear in the Bible until 1630, with the second printing of the Kings James Version of the Bible.  The original name of Jesus was Yeshua or Yahshua.  The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew.  At that time there was no “J” in the Hebrew alphabet. Jesus was originally written Yeshua in Hebrew and later written as “Iesous” in Greek.  This fact in itself does not disprove the existence of God or Jesus as the savior, but points out the irony of how people react to the very sound of the name without knowing the true history of how the name came to be accepted and used.  Another good example is the term Christian.   William Dwight McKissic, Sr. refers to Christian as the Forgotten “N” (nigger) Word.  The followers of Jesus or Christ never referred to themselves as Christians.  To the Romans the word Christ and/or Christian was a derogatory word used to refer to a Jewish religious sect who followed the teachings of Jesus.   The word Christ comes from the Greek work Christos, meaning anointed, or the word Messiah or Mashiah (Hebrew).  So the word that so many people hold sacred is really not so sacred at all, but translations of other terms used to label people.  In the mind of many Romans, the word Christian or the followers of Jesus was much the same as “nigger” to African Americans.  I guest this says something for the current use of the word, primarily by young Blacks, especially rappers and other popular culture devotees.  Of course, probably representative of my generation I view the “N” word with abhorrence, and stand by my convictions that it has no place in the lexicon of world language, unless you wish to insult someone.  Followers of Christ never referred to themselves as Christians.  Christians is only written in the New Testament a few times.  But sometimes names stick and become part of the normal language.

For more details go to:  Black and Atheist Too      

Dr. Byrd Releases New Book

Black and Atheist Too: My Journey Living Through Discovery of the Non-existence of God by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd.

Books are available now. To order your copy, go to:    

Dr. Arthur R. Byrd is a retired community college Vice President.  He worked 37 years in community colleges in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada; 24 years as a vice president for student services. Dr. Byrd was awarded a doctorate degree from the University of Washington. In addition, he served as adjunct faculty in six universities in both undergraduate and graduate studies for Portland State University, Portland OR; Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA; Chapman University, Orange, CA; CSU, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, and Alliant International University – Online. His disciplines include Ethnic Studies, Communications, and Education.  Dr. Byrd grew up in a small rural community of 500 people called Nigton, Texas, located in the piney woods of east Texas, during the Jim Crow segregation era. The community’s social and cultural life focused on three Churches, three juke joints, plus a school. Growing up Dr. Byrd focused on the religious aspects of his community, but at the age of 19, while in the United States Air Force, he had an intellectual epiphany and transitioned into becoming an atheist.  He has been an outspoken atheist since that time.  Since his retirement from higher education in 2011, Dr. Byrd has dedicated himself to the study of the history and philosophy of religion, culminating in the writing of a book that chronicles his transition to atheism, and the various stages of atheist he has experienced up until the present time. 

BLACK AND ATHEIST TOO: MY JOURNEY LIVING THROUGH DISCOVERY OF THE NON-EXISTENCE OF GOD, by Dr. Arthur R. Byrd.

Black and Atheist Too

A new and exciting book.  Available now.  You will follow Dr. Byrd from his

humble Christian upbringing in the small rural community of Nigton, Texas, through his 

transition to atheism while in the Air Force in the sixties.  In this book you will gain insight 

on what it means to be Black and Atheist.  After his conversion to atheism, Dr. Byrd takes 

you on a journey in his life through his academic and intellectual development on atheism; 

the humor of the Bible and many religious practices; dealing with tragedy and death without 

God; an exploration of the Gods of many lands, superstitions, and the miss-application of 

knowledge; and finally a critique of the comparative morality of believers versus non-

believers.  You will also understand the anguish one endures as a Black who questions the 

existence of God; the sense of isolation, the sense of frustration, and being labeled a 

“Doubting Thomas”.  The book is also documented with historical and statistical references 

on the development of religion and its resulting practices.  A must read for religious and non-

religious people alike.

Copies are available now. 

Go to my blog at  Black and Atheist Too to order your copy.