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God. The word.

edited March 2008 in Philosophy
It's quite shocking actually, because I'm a big etymology fan and I only just pondered this. And I don't have sufficient knowledge of all the languages of the world to even have an idea of what the answer to my question is.

And it's: "What's the origin of the word 'God'"?

I mean, from an etymological point of view. Is it even English??

What I got was this: http://wahiduddin.net/words/name_god.htm
But I didn't find it satisfactory enough.

The German word is closest, but when was the first instance of the word used and all that, it's quite hard to know.

Hopefully, to make myself clearer (lol), what I'm trying to do is to find the first instance of the use of the exact spelling of the word 'God' and where it was derived from. Exactly.

Comments

  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2008
    You can read all about it here.

    Palzang
  • edited March 2008
    Thanks. :smilec: Yeah, I've been there, but it didn't say why the change of the word from Gott to God was made. I suppose to Anglicise it then.

    By the way, I like your signature. :smilec:
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2008
    Nia_Nymue wrote: »
    Thanks. :smilec: Yeah, I've been there, but it didn't say why the change of the word from Gott to God was made. I suppose to Anglicise it then.

    By the way, I like your signature. :smilec:

    It's a semanics....
    Why we call the German town Cologne, but they spell it Köln, for example.
    we don't use the letter 'o' with the umlau above it, in English. So we alter a word to make it more understandable in our own language....

    In Italian, we call Genoa, on the Mediterranean coast, 'Genova'....
    I guess too many people were getting it confused with Geneva, in Switerland....Which, by the way, they call "Geneve"....:rolleyesc
  • edited March 2008
    Ohhhhh. Yeah, I've got my question answered now. Thanks, federica. This ain't the first time we met, so :wavey: again. (:

    Hrm. So 'God' is anglicised then.
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2008
    I don't know if I'd say it was anglicized. It's just that both English and German (and Dutch and Frisian and Swedish and Danish and Norwegian) are Germanic languages, but they're all evolved their own spelling rules over the years. It's just the way languages work. English, of course, has been heavily influenced by French due to the Norman Conquest as well as dozens of other languages the English encountered in their empire days.

    Palzang
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2008
    They're over....??:hair: :D
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2008
    Yeah, hate to break the news, Fede. Actually "Great" Britain is just a third world nation now...kind of like a prettied up strumpet past her prime.

    Palzang
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2008
    Pally!

    ....You been peekin' again!!
  • edited March 2008
    Palzang wrote: »
    ...kind of like a prettied up strumpet past her prime.

    Palzang


    D'ats me fellas! :lol::lol::lol:
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2008
    federica wrote: »
    Pally!

    ....You been peekin' again!!


    What, me worry?

    Palzang
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