Unravelling the ancient names of God: Part 2

Last week, in the first part of this mini-series, we revealed that the Judaic names of God belonged, in reality, to well-known Mesopotamian gods.

The clear and conclusive connection between these ancient names, we also demonstrated, cannot be fully made and understood without Setswana.

In the earliest written sections of the Old Testament (OT), dubbed ‘Eloist’ by scholars, the Hebrew name of God was “El” or “Eloi”. “El” appears to have a different etymology (root or history) than “Eloi” although, quite conveniently, they sound the same. Eloi, we saw last week, is based on the Sumerian term Illu, which is the common root of both “illuminate” and mo-illu (now mollo – “fire” in Setswana:  an illuminator). The term referred to “gods”, the “Bright Ones”, who the ancients called ma-Illui (ma-loi) – now “wizards” in Setswana. In Hebrew syntax “ma” comes at the end, thus Eloi-ma (Elohi-m). “El”, in contrast, is ele (“That One” in Setswana). Since “ele”, like “the”, is a definite article that points to something, we can easily see why it became il in Italian, el in Spanish. And even where “el” is transposed into “le”, as in French, “le” is still “the” in Setswana!

Editor's Comment
Congratulations Anicia Gaothuse!

The contest had 10 beautiful young girls as finalists and unfortunately only one could wear the crown.The judges picked Anicia Gaothuse. To all those who feel their contestant should have won ahead of Anicia for whatever reason, hardly; the judges found Anicia to be the best among the best, so desist from disrespecting our newly crowned queen on social media or anywhere else, for that matter! Each of the 10 beautiful young women had supporters...

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