Devil And God

Etymological Meaning of Devil

The most striking illustration of this process is to be found in the word devil itself: To a reader unfamiliar with the endless tricks which language delights in playing, it may seem shocking to be told that the Gypsies use the word devil as the name of God.[96]

This, however, is not because these people have made the archfiend an object of worship, but because the Gypsy language, descending directly from the Sanskrit, has retained in its primitive exalted sense a word which the English language has received only in its debased and perverted sense. The Teutonic words devil, teufel, diuval, djofull, djevful, may all be traced back to the Zend dev,[97] a name in which is implicitly contained the record of the oldest monotheistic revolution known to history. The influence of the so-called Zoroastrian reform upon the long-subsequent development of Christianity will receive further notice in the course of this paper; for the present it is enough to know that it furnished for all Christendom the name by which it designates the author of evil.

To the Parsee follower of Zarathustra the name of the Devil has very nearly the same signification as to the Christian; yet, as Grimm has shown, it is nothing else than a corruption of deva, the Sanskrit name for God. When Zarathustra overthrew the primeval Aryan nature-worship in Bactria, this name met the same evil fate which in early Christian times overtook the word demon, and from a symbol of reverence became henceforth a symbol of detestation.[98] But throughout the rest of the Aryan world it achieved a nobler career, producing the Greek theos, the Lithuanian diewas, the Latin deus, and hence the modern French Dieu, all meaning God.

god

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]. Cf. also Zeus. 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.

Oddly, the exact history of the word God is unknown. The word God is a relatively new European invention, which was never used in any of the ancient Judaeo-Christian scripture manuscripts that were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin.

GAD (PAGAN GOD)

A pagan divinity explicitly mentioned in Is., lxv, 11, where the Hebrew name , "Gad", is rightly rendered "Fortune" in the Vulgate. As far as is known in the present day, Gad is a word of Chanaanite origin, which, long before the passage of Isaias just referred to was written, had, from a mere appellative, become the proper name of a deity. Biblical testimony to the ancient worship of Gad in Chanaan is certainly found in the names of such places as Baalgad (Joshua 11:17; 12:7; 13:5) and Maglalgad "tower of Gad" (Joshua 15:37). A trace of Gad's worship in Syria may perhaps be found in Lia's exclamation "begad" on the birth of her first son when she also called "Gad" (Genesis 30:11); this was admitted of old by St. Augustine (Quæstiones in Heptateuchum, in P.L., XXXIV, col. 571), and at a much more recent date by Dom Calmet, in his Commentary on Genesis.

Gad was the name of the pan-Semitic god of fortune, and is attested in ancient records of Aram and Arabia. Gad is also mentioned by the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 65:11 - some translations obscure the mention of the deity), as having been worshipped by a number of Hebrews during the babylonian captivity. Gad apparantly differed from the god of destiny, who was known as Meni. The root verb in Gad means cut or divide, and from this comes the idea of fate being meted out

Vergija

Pedagogy, or paedagogy is the art or science of being a teacher.

The word comes from the Ancient Greek παιδαγωγέω (paidagōgeō; from παίς país: child and άγω ágō: lead; literally, "to lead the child"). In Ancient Greece, παιδαγωγός (paidagogos) was (usually) a slave who supervised the education of his master’s son (girls were not publicly educated). This involved taking him to school (διδασκαλείον) or a gym (γυμνάσιον), looking after him and carrying his equipment (e.g. musical instruments).^[3]

Vergovės istorija

Viduržemio valstybės

Senovės Viduržemio jūros valstybėse egzistavo kelių rūšių vergovė – skolos vergovė, vergovė kaip bausmė už nusikaltimą ir karo belaisvių vergovė. Didžioji dalis vergų buvo verčiami dirbti žemės ūkio darbus. Vergas galėjo būti išlaisvintas jo šeimininko, dažnai kildavo vergų sukilimai.

³⁹ „Jei kas nors iš tavo išlaikytinių taip nuskurstų, kad jis tau parsiduotų, nepadaryk jo savo vergu. ⁴⁰ Tebūna jis pas tave kaip samdinys ar įnamis. Jis dirbs pas tave tik iki jubiliejaus metų. ⁴¹ Tada jis paliks tave – jis ir jo vaikai – ir sugrįš į savo šeimą ir atgaus savo protėvių nuosavybę, ⁴² nes jie mano tarnai, kuriuos aš išvedžiau iš Egipto žemės. Jie nebus parduodami, kaip yra parduodami vergai. ⁴³ Nejosi jam šiurkščiai ant sprando, bet bijosi savo Dievo. ⁴⁴ Vergą ar vergę gali laikyti, tik jei vergę nusipirksi iš kaimyninių tautų. ⁴⁵ Galite jų nusipirkti ir iš ateivių, gyvenančių su jumis, bei iš jų palikuonių, gimusių ir užaugusių jūsų krašte. Tokie vergai bus jūsų nuosavybė. ⁴⁶ Galite juos palikti savo vaikams kaip paveldimą nuosavybę, padarydami juos amžinais vergais. Su jais galite elgtis kaip su vergais. Bet savo tautiečiams izraeliečiams nė vienas nejos šiurkščiai ant sprando.


Interdisciplinary and linguistic evidence for Palaeolithic continuity of Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic populations in Eurasia, with an excursus on Slavic ethnogenesis

by Mario Alinei

Expanded version of a paper read at the Conference Ancient Settlers in Europe, Kobarid, 29-30 May 2003. – Forthcoming in “Quaderni di semantica”, 26.

7.3.5 The diagnostic value of the etymological semantic change from Slav to slave

... As is known, most western European words designating the notion of “slave” derive from the Latin word sclavus, originally meaning “Slavic”: not only English slave, but also German Sklave, Dutch slaaf, Danish slave, Swedish slaaf, Welsh slaf, Breton sklav, French esclave, Spanish esclavo, Portuguese escravo, Italian schiavo, Albanian skllaf, Modern Greek sklavos, etc. The word has also entered Spanish Arabic, where it has become saklabi or siklabi, plural sakaliba, with the meaning of “eunuch”. In Italy, Lat. sclavus has developed into schiavo in the dialect of Florence, which eventually has become standard Italian. But in Northern Italian dialects, in particular in the dialects of Veneto, through regular phonetic developments, sclavus ‘Slav’ as well as ‘slave’ has become first sciavo, then sciao, and finally ciao, the Italian informal greeting, now internationally known.

Interestingly, the same development, but completely independent of the Northern Italian one, took place in South Eastern Italian dialects, where schiau has the same origin and the same meaning as ciao. Notice that South Eastern Italy was also an area of very early Slavic influence, through importation of slaves (cp. Aebischer 1936, 487).

As to the semantic change from the notion of “slave” to a simple greeting, it can be easily explained by comparing the very similar development by which in certain parts of central Europe the word servus, originally meaning “servant”, has become a common greeting.

Why is all of this important for the traditional theory of the ethnogenesis of the Slavs? Because of the passage from the meaning of ‘Slav’ to the notion of ‘slave’, and its great historical significance. Let us see this in greater detail.

There is a whole collection of medieval sources, which would take too long to list, but which have been systematically studied by the three fundamental studies on the history of Lat. sclavus (Aebischer 1936, Verlinden 1943, 1955), which shows that the earliest attestations of the word sclavus date back to the Early Middle Ages: precisely when the Slavs, in the traditional scenario, should undertake their ‘great migration’ (In other words, when Avars in 567 brought a great number of slave Slavs to Pannonia. Possible start of association Slav=slave. Start of Slavic settlements in Pannonia, recorded in Slavic annals as "When Slavs were sitting by Danube". Slavs start slowly extending their settlements in Pannonia and out of Pannonia. Wolfram 1987,70.-Translator's note).

Indeed we find the meaning ‘slave’ associated to the word sklavos sklavus generally used in Byzantine Greek and Late Latin documents of the 10th century of our era, and most philologists and historians who have discussed the problem are inclined to read “slave” instead of “Slav” in many earlier attestations. Still earlier, the first attestations of the word in the sense of “Slavic” can also be found in Greek, in the 6th century of our era. According to Vasmer himself, for example, the attestation of sclavos in Agathias (6th century) already has the meaning of “slave” (Aebischer 1936, 485).

How do scholars explain the semantic development from “Slavic” to “slave”? All historical sources irrefutably show that the Slavic area was the main reservoir of slaves in the whole period of Early Middle Ages, beginning probably in the 6th century, and with a peak around the 10th. This preference for slaves of Slavic origin – so strong as to make Slavs the slaves by anthonomasia – has been easily explained: in that period Slavic people were the only ones who were still pagan, and this detail is most important as it explains why, by choosing them, early medieval slave traders – mostly Venetian, Genoese and Jewish – did not violate the new principles of the “Societas christiana”, introduced by Pope Gregory the Great at the end of the 6th century, according to which baptized people must be excluded from slavery. So we obtain a safe dating for the word sclavus, in the sense of “slave”, which will be approximately the period between the sixth and tenth centuries.

"Rabban," "Rabbi," and "Rab."

—The Title:

Hebrew term used as a title for those who are distinguished for learning, who are the authoritative teachers of the Law, and who are the appointed spiritual heads of the community. It is derived from the noun , which in Biblical Hebrew means "great" or "distinguished," and in post-Biblical Hebrew, "master" in opposition to "slave" (Suk. ii. 9; Giṭ. iv. 4) or "pupil" (Ab. i. 3).

RABBI - rab'-i, rab'-i (rabbi; rhabbi, or rhabbei): A term used by the Jews of their religious teachers as a title of respect, from rabh, "great," so "my great one" (compare Latin magister), once of masters of slaves, but later of teachers (Mt 23:7); therefore translated by didaskalos, "teacher" (Mt 23:8; Jn 1:38; compare 1:49). In the King James Version frequently rendered "Master" (Mt 26:25,49; Mk 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; Jn 4:31; 9:2; 11:8). John the Baptist (Jn 3:26), as well as Christ, is addressed with the title (Jn 1:49; 6:25), both by disciples and others. Jesus forbade its use among His followers (Mt 23:8).

See TALMUD for Rabbinical literature.

The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word רַב, rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’, used in many senses, including the sense of a ‘master’ and apprentice, whence someone who is a distinguished ‘teacher’. Sephardic and Yemenite Jews pronounce this word רִבִּי ribbī; the modern Israeli pronunciation רַבִּי rabbī is derived from a recent (18th century) innovation in Ashkenazic prayer books, although this vocalization is also found in some ancient sources. Other varieties of pronunciation are rəvī, rubbī,^{[citation needed]} and, in Yiddish, rebbə.

The rabbi is not an occupation found in the Torah (i.e. the Pentateuch) as such; the first time this word is mentioned is in the Mishnah (most commonly thought to be codified around 200 C.E, that codification often attributed to Rabbi Judah Hanasi). The basic form of the rabbi developed in the Pharisaic and Talmudic era.

The more ancient generations had no such titles as Rabban, Ribbi, or Rab, for either the Babylonian sages or the sages in Israel.

Now the order of these titles is as follows: Ribbi is greater than Rab; Rabban again, is greater than Ribbi; while the simple name is greater than Rabban.

Paminklas vergų išlaisvinimui Britanijos imperijoje 1834 m.

Pradžiapati

PRADŽIAPATI

Iš kur prasidėjo baltoji Šviesa?

Iš kur prasidėjo gražioji Saulė?

Iš kur prasidėjo šviesusis Mainulis?

Iš kur prasidėjo skaičiusios Aušrinės?

Iš kur prasidėjo tankiosios Žvaigždės?

Iš kur prasidėjo stipriosios Liūtys?

Iš kur prasidėjo didieji Viesulai?

MŪSUOSE PRASIDEDA BALTOJI ŠVIESA!

Prasidėjo Baltoji Šviesa iš Šventosios Dvasios,

Paties Mitros, Dangaus Imperatoriaus;

Gražioji Saulė iš Dievo veido,

Jaunasis-skaistus Mainulis iš Dievo krūtinės,

Skaidriausios Aušrinės iš Dievo rūbų,

Tankiosios Žvaigždės iš Dievo akių,

Stipriosios Liūtys iš Dievo minčių,

Didieji Viesulai iš Šventosios Dvasios,

Paties Mitros, Dangaus Imperatoriaus.

"Golubinaja Kniga", — Bessonov, Maskva, 1861.