Names of God

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Monotheistic faiths believe that there is a supreme being, who is necessarily unique, so the different names given to that being in different languages could in principle all be translated in English as God. However, the "real" and traditional name(s) of God play an important role in some cultures.

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Ancient Egypt

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Zoroastrianism

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Roman paganism

While some of the lder deities have names long pre-dating the Latin people the Romans belong to, and even more were adoted with their authochthonous names (or Latinized in a regognizable way), especially many minor divinities had artificial names as they were simply personifications of various minor aspects of daily life. Latin also prominently used an abstract word for god, deus (hence deity and, from its adjective divinus, divinity), from proto-Indo-Germanic root deiwos, also the root of words for "sky" and "day"- the god-sense is originally "shining," but "whether as originally sun-god or as lightener" is not now clear; the epithet Deus Optimus Maximus, DOM 'Best and Greatest God', an epithet for Jupiter, the pater familias of the Roman pantheon, was later adopted in Christianity, as wel as Deus.

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Mithras

The name of this Persian god of light, one of the earliest Indic words we possess, being found in clay tablets from Anatolia dating to about 1500 B.C, reported in English only since 1551, is from Latin, from Greek Mithras, derived from itself from Avestan Mithra-, possibly from an Indo-Iranian root mitram "contract," whence *mitras "contractual partner, friend," conceptualized as a god, or, according to Kent, first the epithet of a divinity and eventually his name; from proto-Indo-Germanic root base mei- "to bind"; related to Sanskrit Mitrah, a Vedic deity associated with Varuna.

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Abrahamic religions

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Judaism

In the Hebrew Bible, the name of God represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature. The various Jewish names of God represent God, and His divine attributes. The most important name of God is the tetragrammaton (YHWH- vowels are not written in the Hebrew spelling), and Elohim. See Ēl, Names of God in Judaism.

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Christianity

Jehovah is the most common vocalization of God's personal name based on the Hebrew tetragrammaton (above). Most modern Christian Bibles have removed this name in nearly all of the 7000 places it appears in the Hebrew Scriptures, usually replacing it with 'LORD' or a similar alternative. The name does appear at four places in the King James Bible (e.g. Exodus 6:3), but is only used with prominence by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Nearly all Christian traditions recognize the name in some form, even if it has largely fallen out of use.

Jesus (Yeshua`, Yeshû` or Yehoshûa`) is a personal name meaning "Jehovah Saves", and Christ means "the anointed" (translating Messiah). Much of Christendom believes in a divine Trinity, i.e. a single God manifest in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

In the effort to translate the Bible into every language (see SIL), the Christian God has usually been named after a pagan or philosophical concept that was present in the language before Christianity.

God itself is an example of this, the word having earlier referred to Germanic pagan deities. Greek Theos was used for the supreme God even before Christianity, in the Septuagint, translated to Latin Deus by Saint Jerome. Other names of the Christian God that have a history of pagan meanings include Slavic Bog, Finnish Jumala, Japanese Kami and in Arabic Allah which is generally thought to be solely a word which describes the Islamic God.

The less evangelical branch of the Quakers often refers to God as The Light. Other terms used include 'King of Kings' or 'Lord of Lords'

Other names are: 1. Elohim 2. Jehovah 3. El-Shaddai 4. Adonai 5. Jehovah-jireh 6. Jehovah-rophe 7. Jehovah-nissi 8. Jehiah-M'Kaddesh 9. Jehovah-shalom 10. Jehovah-tsidkenu 11. Jehovah-rohi 12. Jehovah-shammah

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Islam

Allah is the most frequently used name of God in Islam. It originally simply meant "the God" in Arabic, and was used in pre-Islamic times to refer to a divinity worshipped in Mecca. It is properly translated as "God" in English, and seen by Muslims as the same God of Christianity. As such, contrary to much popular understanding of Allah as a distinct God, it is the word used by Arab Jews and Christians when speaking of God.

An Islamic tradition states that there are 99 Names of God, which are his attributes.

Besides those names of Qur'anic origin, some other names have been used, be it far less widely, e.g. the Osmanli anachronism Tangri (originally the pagan Turks' celestial chief god).

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Rastafari

  • Haile Selassie is the name of God incarnate in the Rastafari movement. God is called Jah and Haile Selassie is called Jah Rastafari, from his precoronation name Ras Tafari Makonnen
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Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'ís use the word for God in their local language, so God is used in English, Allah in Arabic, etc.

The attributes of God are seen as his names, and Bahá'ís share the tradition of the 99 Names of God with Islam, believing that the 100th name of God was revealed as Bahá’, the root word of Bahá'í. The Bahá'í greeting Alláh'u'abhá is a formulation of this word and is usually translated "God is most Glorious".

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Dharmic religions

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Hinduism

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Ayyavazhi

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Sikhism

In Sikhism God is One Entity and has no gender. God is referred to as Waheguru, meaning Wonderful Lord; Satnam meaning True Name; On-kar meaning Creator. God according to Guru Nanak is beyond full comprehension by humans and can be called by an infinite number of names.

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Chinese religions

  • Shang Ti 上帝 (Hanyu Pinyin: shàng dì) (literally King Above) was a supreme God worshipped in ancient China. It is also used to refer to the Christian God in the Standard Mandarin Union Version of the Bible.
  • Shen (lit. God) is a variant of Shang Ti.
  • Tian (lit. Sky) is, loosely speaking, a Chinese variant of Gaia. Whether it possesses sentience in the embodiment of an omnipotent, omniscient being is a difficult question for linguists and philosophers.
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Other traditions

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Taboos

Several religions advance taboos related to names of their gods. In some cases, the name may never be spoken, or only spoken by inner-circle initiates, or only spoken at prescribed moments during certain rituals. In other cases, the name may be freely spoken, but when written, taboos apply. It is common to regard the written name of one's god as deserving of respect; it ought not, for instance, be stepped upon or dirtied. It may be permissible to burn the written name when there is no longer a use for it.

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Judaism

Most observant Jews forbid any method of discarding the written name of God. Once written, the name must be preserved indefinitely. This leads to several noteworthy practices:

  • Commonplace materials, such as calendars which include quotations from Torah, are written with an intentionally abbreviated form of the name. For instance, quotations written in English may substitute "G-d" for the name of God. Thus, a calendar or children's Hebrew school workbook may be discarded along with ordinary trash.
  • Copies of the Torah are, like most scriptures, heavily used during worship services, and eventually become worn out. Since they may not be disposed of in any way, including by burning, they are removed, traditionally to the synagogue attic. See genizah. There they remain until the building itself is destroyed by the hand of God or gentiles (non-Jews).
  • All religious texts that include the name of God are buried.
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Literature and fiction

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See also

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External links

uk:Біблійні імена Бога

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