Etymology of the Word "God"

(Anglo-Saxon God ; German Gott ; akin to Persian khoda ; Hindu khooda ).

God can variously be defined as:

• the proper name of the one Supreme and Infinite Personal Being , the Creator and Ruler of the universe, to whom man owes obedience and worship;
• the common or generic name of the several supposed beings to whom, in polytheistic religions, Divine attributes are ascribed and Divine worship rendered;
• the name sometimes applied to an idol as the image or dwelling-place of a god.

The root-meaning of the name (from Gothic root gheu ; Sanskrit hub or emu , "to invoke or to sacrifice to") is either "the one invoked" or "the one sacrificed to." From different Indo-Germanic roots ( div , "to shine" or "give light"; thes in thessasthai "to implore") come the Indo-Iranian deva , Sanskrit dyaus (gen. divas ), Latin deus , Greek theos , Irish and Gaelic dia , all of which are generic names; also Greek Zeus (gen. Dios , Latin Jupiter ( jovpater ), Old Teutonic Tiu or Tiw (surviving in Tuesday ), Latin Janus , Diana , and other proper names of pagan deities. The common name most widely used in Semitic occurs as 'el in Hebrew, 'ilu in Babylonian, 'ilah in Arabic, etc.; and though scholars are not agreed on the point, the root-meaning most probably is "the strong or mighty one."

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