The English word god comes from the Old English , which itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic . Its cognates in other Germanic languages include (both Gothic), (Old Norse), (Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Dutch), and (Old High German).

Etymology

The Proto-Germanic meaning of and its etymology is uncertain. It is generally agreed that it derives from a Proto-Indo-European neuter passive perfect participle . 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 WatkinsWatkins, Calvert, ed., The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin Co., 2000. opines in the light of Greek "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 ) or "that which is invoked."

The earliest uses of the word God in Germanic writing is often cited to be in the Gothic Bible or Wulfila Bible, which is the Christian Bible as translated by Ulfilas into the Gothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic, tribes. The oldest parts of the Gothic Bible, contained in the Codex Argenteus, are estimated to be from the fourth century. During the fourth century, the Goths were converted to Christianity, largely through the efforts of Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic language in Nicopolis ad Istrum in today's northern Bulgaria. The words and were used for God in the Gothic Bible.

Influence of Christianity God entered English when the language still had a system of grammatical gender. The word and its cognates were initially neuter but underwent transition when their speakers converted to Christianity, "as a means of distinguishing the personal God of the Christians from the impersonal divine powers acknowledged by pagans." However, traces of the neuter endured. While these words became syntactically masculine, so that determiners and adjectives connected to them took masculine endings, they sometimes remained morphologically neuter, which could be seen in their inflections: In the phrase, , "my God," from the Gothic Bible, for example, inflects as if it were still a neuter because it lacks a final , but the possessive adjective takes the final that it would with other masculine nouns.

God and its cognates likely had a general, predominantly plural or collective sense prior to conversion to Christianity. After conversion, the word was commonly used in the singular to refer to the Christian deity, and also took on characteristics of a name.

Translations The word god was used to represent Greek theos and Latin deus in Bible translations, first in the Gothic translation of the New Testament by Ulfilas. For the etymology of , see .

Greek " () means god in English. It is often connected with Greek (), "run", and (), "to look at, to see, to observe",θεωρέω, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on PerseusDermot Moran, The Philosophy of John Scottus Eriugena: A Study of Idealism in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press Latin "holidays", "temple", and also Armenian "gods". Alternative suggestions (e.g. by De Saussure) connect "smoke, spirit", attested in Baltic and Germanic words for "spook" and ultimately cognate with Latin "smoke." The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek Palaeolexicon, Word study tool of ancient languages (plural Palaeolexicon, Word study tool of ancient languages), written in Linear B syllabic script.

Capitalization

The development of English orthography was dominated by Christian texts. Capitalized, "God" was first used to refer to the Abrahamic God and may now signify any monotheistic conception of God, including the translations of the Arabic , Persian Khuda, Indic Ishvara and the Maasai .

In the English language, capitalization is used for names by which a god is known, including "God". Consequently, its capitalized form is not used for multiple gods or when referring to the generic idea of a deity.Webster's New World Dictionary; "God n. ME < OE, akin to Ger gott, Goth guth, prob. < IE base * ĝhau-, to call out to, invoke > Sans havaté, (he) calls upon; 1. any of various beings conceived of as supernatural, immortal, and having special powers over the lives and affairs of people and the course of nature; deity, esp. a male deity: typically considered objects of worship; 2. an image that is worshiped; idol 3. a person or thing deified or excessively honored and admired; 4. [G-] in monotheistic religions, the creator and ruler of the universe, regarded as eternal, infinite, all-powerful, and all-knowing; Supreme Being; the Almighty"Dictionary.com; "God /gɒd/ noun: 1. the one Supreme Being, the creator and ruler of the universe. 2. the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute. 3. (lowercase) one of several deities, esp. a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldly affairs. 4. (often lowercase) a supreme being according to some particular conception: the God of mercy. 5. Christian Science. the Supreme Being, understood as Life, Truth, Love, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Principle. 6. (lowercase) an image of a deity; an idol. 7. (lowercase) any deified person or object. 8. (often lowercase) Gods, Theater. 8a. the upper balcony in a theater. 8b. the spectators in this part of the balcony."

Pronouns referring to a god are also often capitalized by adherents to a religion as an indication of reverence, and are traditionally in the masculine gender ("He", "Him", "His" etc) unless specifically referring to a goddess.

See also Anglo-Saxon paganism Bhagavan (Hindi word) El (deity) (Semitic word) Elohim Jumala (Finnish word) Tanri (Turkish word) Yahweh YHWH Allah

References

External links

Use of guþ n the Gothic Bible. Use of guda n the Gothic Bible. Gothic language and its relation to other Germanic languages such as Anglish (English) and Saxon