Re: Hebrew/Latin spirit taxonomies

Patrick Dunn wrote:
> And I can't decide whether to call "autonomous,
> very powerful entity connected to a natural
> phenomenon," deo, el, adon, numine, or even neter.
The usual English word is 'deva' (oops, which I always thought was
Latin, but my dictionary says 'Sanskrit', so maybe this won't be
helpful after all)

'deus' (cognate with Greek 'theos', I always assumed) is best
translated as 'god'.  Don't be confused by Christian writers, who
call their god 'God' with a capital because they're not allowed to
say His proper name (wierdly, some sects here in America have decided
that 'God' is his proper name, and therefore, that you can't say
that)

The demotion of the Greek gods to devas is also a Christian invention,
to reconcile two incompatible notions about the Greek: that they
were the founders of European civilization, thought and scholarship;
and: they were a bunch of ignorant heathens. The notion is that the
myths are the Greeks' early gropings toward explanations of the
physical world, which they would have abandoned if they knew about
monotheism or science, like that we learned about from the Greeks.

This confusion also came from the more-or-less continuous neopagan
revivals of the last thousand years or so, who tended to describe
'god I'd most like ask for a favor with respect to thus-and-such'
as 'god of thus-and-such'

> I also hate the English word "elemental" for some
> ill-defined aesthetic reason, so that won't do for
> "autonomous, elemental spiritual creatures, both
> malign and benign."
I think these are jinns. I've seen the term 'elemental' basically
in translations of texts of Christian ceremonial magic, and in
modern fantasy novel and role-playing games ripping them off, not
is actual reports. Unless you mean the Good People, but wher I come
from, we don't like to say their name out loud.

        Erich

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