Ancient Latin Translation of Psalms Found in Irish Bog [Follow-up, it isn't Psalm 83]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108654 ^ | 30 July 06 | Ezra HaLevi

[Bellflower]

Do you know the history behind how the name God for The LORD came into existence?

[Quix]

It used to bug me a lot, too.

So much that I'd even tend a bit to spell GOD out in all caps to sort of rub it in their faces.

God made very clear to me I was wrong.

Not that He'd insist I follow their practice but that I have respect for it.

For them, it's that God is SOOOOOOO HOLY, they are not worthy to spell it all out.

Emphasizing God's Holiness is not a bad thing.

[Wolfstar]

What is the real word for God that the word G-d is replacing?

There is no real word. The word is God. G-d is not a word and it doesn't replace the word God. It merely substitutes a hyphen for the letter o. People who use G-d may think they are doing it out of some kind of respect, but all it really is, is a form of conceit.

The word God is used throughout the Bible. Should someone go through the Bible and change the word to G-d throughout? That would be recognized as nonsense. So using G-d instead of God in other written discussions is equally nonsense.

It's like substituting a hyphen for the middle letter in Jesus: Je-us. Dumb, pointless and a silly conceit. How about Holy Trinity: H-ly Tri-ity. Or Christ: Ch-ist. Makes a mockery out of the words and names, all for the sake of someone trying to prove a point about themselves. The very definition of conceit.

[xzins]

Part of Psalm 83, a lament to God over other nations' attempts to wipe out Israel, is legible but the museum said the extent to which other Psalms or additional texts are preserved would only be determined by lengthy work by a team of experts.

This is the initial report that came out, reported on Free Republic at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672039/posts

Notice that it says in the report that Psalm 83 is LEGIBLE....and then it gives a brief overview of Psalm 83.

It appears that the person reporting (from the museum?) was referring to OUR Psalm 83 by virtue of the quote about what was "legible." In other words, the words of the psalm was the identifier used.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the update.

[guitar4jesus]

"Actually, it's a form of hyper respect."

Don't you mean "hyphen" respect?

[starfish923]

1. When and why did it become fashionable to write God as G-d? Pretty stupid and, frankly, it seems disrespectful to me.

1. Ditto your remark, accent on the pretty stupid part. Perhaps some Christians focus way too much on the unnecessary.

[starfish923]

I wonder why some people assume that the book being open to one particular psalm is significant.
The page could have been opened by anything, a gust of wind, a random tumble, the movement of the bog over the centuries or the paw of a critter at one time. It COULD have been left open by an individual, but even his opening of it might have been random.

Am I so off-base here? That kind of speculation is simply the wild kind, meaningless.
Imho, the finding of the book is the wonder, not the page it was open to.

[Straight Vermonter]

Maybe I can elaborate a bit here. In Hebrew words are spelled without vowels (think YHWH). When the speaker pronounces the word they add in the vowel sounds. The vowel sounds that are added indicate the tense of the subject (past, present, future). By saying the name of God aloud they are limiting God to being only in the past, only in the present or only in the future.

Some people today leave out the vowel in the English word God as a connection to this ancient practice despite their being no linguistic reason to do so.

[patton]

about 6,000 years ago.

[RightWhale]

the tense of the subject

That might explain some of the difficulty I have in reading Hebrew. I expect tense in verbs rather than nouns.

[rightwingcrazy]

I've read elsewhere that a more literal translation would be "Valley of Thorns", although "Valley of Tears" is a homonymous play on words.

[Blogger]

npr has it. I'm sorry, did you say source or reliable source?

[RightWhale]

When and why did it become fashionable

It's been going on for a long time as a means to avoid violation of the Third Commandment.

[Wolfstar]

about 6,000 years ago

Nonsense. The etymology of the word God is: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German got.

In other words, it dates from English as spoken in the Middle Ages.

I've read all the justifications on this thread for replacing the o with a hyphen. The fact remains that it is a modern affectation which, to the best that I'm able to determine, started in the internet age.

[Wolfstar]

It's been going on for a long time as a means to avoid violation of the Third Commandment.

That's ironic, since the Bible, itself, does not spell God as G-d. When one speaks the word, one cannot hyphenate it. Simply to discuss God and religious matters is not taking His name in vain. Otherwise God could never be mentioned in churches -- or at all, for that matter.

I think it's a deliberate affectation people use to try to convey the message that they are somehow more reverent than the next guy.

[Wolfstar]

The proper history should be that of the tetragrammaton (YHWH in English).

So it's OK to use YHWH as an internet screen name, but not to spell the English word God correctly? Once again, the word God is not Jewish or Hebrew in origin. It's etmology is Middle English, from Old English, akin to the Germanic word Got.

I'm a Roman Catholic, so can't claim to know the tenets of the Jewish-Hebrew faith. But I do know that nothing whatsoever in Catholic-Christrian law or tradition prevents one from saying the word God (other than to not take it in vain -- meaning to not use it as a curse or in an abusive manner) or of spelling it correctly.