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TheEnglish wordgod comes from theOld Englishgod, which itself is derived from theProto-Germanic*gudą. Its cognates in otherGermanic languages includeguþ, gudis (bothGothic),guð (Old Norse),god (Old Saxon,Old Frisian, andOld Dutch), andgot (Old High German).
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TheProto-Germanic meaning of*gudą and its etymology is uncertain. It is generally agreed that it derives from aProto-Indo-European neuterpassive perfect participle*ǵʰu-tó-m.[1]: 193–194 Depending on which possibility is preferred, thepre-Christian meaning of the Germanic term may either have been (in the "pouring" case) "libation" or "that which is libated upon,idol" — or, as Watkins[2] opines in the light ofGreekχυτη γαια "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 Sanskritbrahman) or "that which is invoked."
The earliest uses of the word God in Germanic writing is often cited to be in theGothic Bible or Wulfila Bible, which is the Christian Bible as translated byUlfilas into theGothic language spoken by the Eastern Germanic, or Gothic, tribes. The oldest parts of the Gothic Bible, contained in theCodex Argenteus, are estimated to be from the fourth century. During the fourth century, theGoths were converted to Christianity, largely through the efforts of Bishop Ulfilas, who translated the Bible into the Gothic language inNicopolis ad Istrum in today's northern Bulgaria. The wordsguda andguþ were used for God in the Gothic Bible.
God entered English when the language still had a system ofgrammatical 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."[3]: 15 However, traces of the neuter endured. While these words became syntactically masculine, so thatdeterminers andadjectives connected to them took masculine endings, they sometimes remained morphologically neuter, which could be seen in their inflections: In the phrase,guþ meins, "my God," from the Gothic Bible, for example,guþ inflects as if it were still a neuter because it lacks a final-s, but the possessive adjectivemeins takes the final-s that it would with other masculine nouns.[3]: 15
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.[3]: 15–16 [4]
The wordgod was used to representGreektheos andLatindeus inBible translations, first in the Gothic translation of theNew Testament by Ulfilas. For the etymology ofdeus, see*Dyēus.
Greekθεός " (theos) means god in English. It is often connected with Greekθέω (theō), "run",[5][6] andθεωρέω (theoreō), "to look at, to see, to observe",[7][8] Latinferiae "holidays",fanum "temple", and also Armeniandi-k` "gods". Alternative suggestions (e.g. byDe Saussure) connect*dhu̯es- "smoke, spirit", attested in Baltic and Germanic words for "spook" and ultimately cognate with Latinfumus "smoke." The earliest attested form of the word is theMycenaean Greekte-o[9] (pluralte-o-i[10]), written inLinear B syllabic script.
The development ofEnglish orthography was dominated byChristian texts. Capitalized, "God" was first used to refer to theAbrahamic God and may now signify any monotheisticconception of God, including the translations of theArabicAllāh,PersianKhuda, IndicIshvara and theMaasaiNgai.
In theEnglish 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 adeity.[11][12]
Pronouns referring to a god are also often capitalized by adherents to a religion as an indication of reverence, and are traditionally in themasculine gender ("He", "Him", "His" etc) unless specifically referring to agoddess.[13][14]
Pronoun references to a deity worshiped by people in the present are sometimes capitalized, although some writers use capitals only to prevent confusion:God helped Abraham carry out His law.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)Traditional biblical translations that always capitalize the word "God" and the pronouns, "He," "Him," and "His" in reference to God itself and the use of archaic forms such as "Thee," "Thou," and "Thy" are familiar.
