TS98En 1998 Explanatory notes on Gad or God

Apart from Gad, the son of Yaʽqob, there was another “Gad.” The astrologers of

Babel called Jupiter (Zeus) by the name “Gad.” He was also well known among the Canaanites (the Kenaʽanites) where his name was often coupled with Baʽal,

Baʽal Gad, which according to the Massoretic vowel pointing in the Book of

Yehoshua is pronounced: Baʽal God.

• This same name is discovered in the ancient Germanic languages as Gott, Goda, Gode, God, Gud, Gade. And searching further back into its Indo-Germanic (Indo-European) roots, we find that it traces back to the word GHODH, which means “union,” even “sexual union.” No wonder this meaning is still evident in the Dutch and German gade. It is also not difficult to see it in the English “gadfly” and “gadding about.”

• Θεος Greek 2316• theos• Thayer Definition:• 1) a god or goddess, a general

name of deities or divinities

• Θεος Strong’s Hebrew Greek Dictionary• Theos theh'-os• Of uncertain affinity; a deity, especially

(with G3588) the supreme Divinity; figuratively a magistrate; by Hebraism very: - X exceeding, God, god [-ly, -ward].

• International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

Gad (3) (ד� ,gadh, “fortune”): A god of Good Luck ,גpossibly the Hyades. The writer in Isa_65:11 (margin) pronounces a curse against such as are lured away to

idolatry. The warning here, according to Cheyne, is specifically against the Samaritans, whom with their

religion the Jews held in especial abhorrence. The charge would, however, apply just as well to

superstitious and semi-pagan Jews. “But ye that forsake YHUH יהוה, that forget my Kodesh mountain, that

prepare a table for Fortune, and that fill up mingled wine unto Destiny;

• Continued; ISBE• Canaanitish place-names also attest the prevalence of

the cult, as Baal-gad, at the foot of Hermen (Jos_11:17; Jos_12:7; Jos_13:5); Migdal-gad, possibly Mejdel near Askalon (Jos_15:37); Gaddi and Gaddiel (Num_13:10 f). In Talmudic literature the name of Gad is frequently invoked (compare McCurdy in Jewish Encyclopedia, V, 544). Indeed the words of Leah in Gen_30:11 may refer not to good fortune or luck but to the deity who was especially regarded as the patron god of Good Fortune (compare Kent, Student's Old Testament, I, 111). Similar beliefs were held among the Greeks and Romans, e.g. Hor. Sat. ii.8, 61:

• Continued ISBE• The question has also an astronomical interest.

Arabic tradition styled the planet Jupiter the greater fortune, and Venus the lesser fortune. Jewish tradition identified Gad with the planet Jupiter, and it has been conjectured that Meni is to be identified with the planet Venus. See, however, ASTROLOGY, 10.

• Easton Bible Dictionary• God• (A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the

name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering• (1.) of the Hebrew 'El, from a word meaning to

be strong;

• Wikipedia Encyclopedia• The English word God continues the

Old English God (guþ, gudis in Gothic, gud in modern Scandinavian, God in Dutch, and Gott in modern German), which is thought to derive from Proto-Germanic *ǥuđán

• Continued Wikipedia• Obsolete etymologies• In 19th century scholarship, there were a number of alternative

etymologies suggested. Morgan Peter Kavenaugh in The Origin of Language and Myths claimed that the word god was taken from the Buddha's patriarchal name of Gotama. John Campbell connected further theonyms, "I have shown elsewhere that the English word God, the German Gott, the Persian Khoda and the Hindustani Khuda are all derived from the same root as that which appears in Celtic Aeddon or Guydion, the Germanin Odin, Woden or Goutan and the Indian Buddha or Gotama."[2] The Reverend Henry Scadding D.D. and Henry Le Mesurier in his book Mer-cur-ius, or The Word Maker, also connected Lombard Guodan to Gotama Buddha.[3] The connection of Gwydion with Wotan (but not with god) is due to Jacob Grimm

• Continued Wikipedia• Proto-Germanic name of a god of Germanic

paganism, known as Odin in Norse mythology, Wōden in Old English, Wodan or Wotan in Old High German and Godan in the Lombardic language. Godan was shortened to God over time and was adopted/retained by the Germanic peoples of the British isles as the name of their deity, in lieu of the Latin word Deus used by the Latin speaking Christian church, after conversion to Christianity.

• Continued Wikipedia• Augustine of Canterbury. Augustine's mission to the

Saxons in southern Britain was conducted at a time when the city of Rome was a part of a Lombardic kingdom. The translated bibles which they brought on their mission were greatly influenced by the Germanic tribes they were in contact with, chief among them being the Lombards and Franks. The translation for the word deus of the Latin bible was influenced by the then current usage by the tribes for their highest deity, namely Wodan by Angles, Saxons and Franks of north-central and western Europe and Godan by the Lombards of south-central Europe around Rome. There are many instances where the name Godan and Wodan are contracted to God and Wod.[

• Word Origin & History;From On line Dictionarygod 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