Mar 1

Mar 1 African Origins of the Word God

Data from Asar Imhotep, 2011 (PS. I am kind of in love with all of his articles, and even children’s books which are very hard to find, and he just stops posting around 2013. If anyone has more information on this author, please let me know!).

“The names of all the gods have been known in Egypt since the beginning of time.” -Herodotus

The sea made it natural for Greeks to turn to neighboring maritime peoples rather than to the hill-dwellers who live on the European mainland. Egypt and Asia Minor were more interesting than Macedonia and Illyria. From these already ancient cultures the early Greeks learned many things: the names of exotic gods and goddesses such as Hera and Athena, who became fully naturalized .

In the vast majority of African spiritual systems, the sky is symbolic of the infinite vastness of the Creator and is used as a symbol of distance. Since the sky, its height, and rain are related concepts, the same word is used for all three, often with slight changes in vowels, and often with first and last consonants often swappable (dog <> god). African terms followed Africans as they migrated out of Africa and are still recognizable in European languages. The following words will demonstrate a few of these terms which should be recognizable given the nature of this discussion.

(from proto bantu “d” often turns into “l”)

ngai, engai, “God" in Massai
godo/gudu, “top, sky” in Proto-Bantu
kodo, “old person, old age” in Proto-Bantu
dok, “to rain”, Proto-Bantu
dog, “to bewitch” Proto-Bantu
dogi, “witchcraft”, Proto-Bantu
doge, “chief priest” in Vence, Italy

Proto-Bantu forms *godo, *kodo and *gudu are inverses of the proto-Bantu form *-dOk. In early Niger-Kongo there is evidence of free-word-order.

mlogi, mlozi, mloki, mrogi, “magician, sorcerer” in Bantu

luck, in English
luz/luc meaning “light, moon” in spanish/latin
Lohios “Apollo”
Meilihios “Zeus”

muluku, m-luko, mlungu, mulungu: “God, heaven” in Bantu
moloh, Phoenician/Punic (Jewish)
molo, “magical herb” in Homer
yulu, eulu, “God, heaven” in Bantu
El, Bel, “God” in Canaanite (pre-Jewish)
Julus, Jolos, Jolais (L>J) Sardinian/Aegean

Mulungu “God” Proto-Bantu
m-ngu, muungu, muingu, “God” in Bantu
Minos/Menuas, name of Uratean King
ngai, engai, “God" in Massai
nkulu, “God” in Bantu-Zulu

Nicholas!

godo/gudu, “top, sky” in Proto-Bantu
kodo, “old person, old age” in Proto-Bantu
kudu, “old” in Bantu
kUrai “year” in Ijo
kare, “full grown person” in Sanskrit

The Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo consonantal root for sky/heavens/God is -l-, -n-, and -d, often with k- or g- prefixes which gives us the g-d (god) root. These sounds are known throughout world languages to mutate and interchange with each other.

/l/ root (ilu) may become a /d/, /r/ or an /n/.
k- or g- prefix will become an /s/ or a /z/

O-s-oro ―sky, god, in Akan (OSIRIS = Osoro + Isis = Osor + Is = Osiris)
Z-ulu ―heavens, sky; as in the famous Tshaka Zulu in Amazulu

It is our belief that the Germanic word “God” derives from the African word Godo/Gudu where g- is a prefix and the root is du/do.

It is this root (du/do) from which we get:

Olu, Elu, El ― “God”, in Yorùbá,
Oluwa ―lord
Eloah ―God, Hebrew
Eloh‘iym ―Gods
El ―God, Canaanite
Ilu ―God, Babylonian
il‘ilah (Allah), “God”, Arabic

In Bantu this term is rendered:

G-udu, G-ulu, K-ulu, (n)K-ale, K-ule, P-ala/H-ala, Z-ulu, Z-eru, Bw-ena, Mw-ene.

Specific examples of the name God in Africa can be seen in the name:

Guéno “the Eternal” among the Fulani (l>n);
Gulu, among the Chagga-Bantu of East Africa (d>l);
san,”rain, sky, buy, year”, in Bambara
san-kolo, “heaven”
Kulu, among the Bakongo;
Unkulukulu (the oldest of the old) among the Amazulu:
kuru ―”God point“ (center of cross), in Bambara
Hrw, “sky, sun, God, In Ancient Egyptian (from central Africa)

wr/ulu, the root of Hrw
Olu ― ”great, lord, God”, Yorùbá
enu ―”top, high, up”, Igbo

These terms evoke a sense of eldership, distance, height, an apex, exaltation, the peak of something. Anything that is tall or reaches the heavens can be an ulu (sun, moon, stars, mountains, etc.).

A related Yorùbá word Olá means: “elevated status, fame, honorable estate”. It can be seen in such names as:

Olásení ―fame is not unachievable
Oládŭnní ―high status is sweet to have
Olánrewájú ―status is progressing forward
Oláitán ―honour never gets used up.

It is from this variation I believe that the word Allah (L) ultimately has its origin (which originally had a k- prefix that became a glottalized stop; Niger-Congo k-ala > Arabic (L). T

The sky is only used as a metaphor to denote the highest example of excellence;

the summit of achievement (what a priest represents);
the most honourable;
the head honcho;
the eldest (the oldest thing in existence);
the grandest/biggest;
the distance (in ability, consciousness and wisdom) between man and the Creator;
the possessor of all things (as the sky encompasses all things in the universe) and general absence from everything else (literally above it all)

Other similar words:

la, da ―day, Sudan
la, da ―day, Mande
bú, da ―rain Bantu
dana ―sky, North Guinea
na ―above, Sudan
an, “sky”, Sumerian
araŋga ― rain Afitti
ar ―sky, rain in Tama
uar ―river, Dinka
(na)are ―water, Lotuko
ra, arra ―sky, Sudan, Lendu
kadda, “sun, day” Sudan, Kreish
kada ―sun, day, Bagirmi
kora ―day, Mangbutu
kor ―sun, Chari-Nile, Didinga
ko,lo,ŋ, “sun” in Bar
ekoloŋ ―sun, Turkana
ako,l ―sun, Dinka
do “sky” Gur
ro “sky”, Mangbetu
ro: ―rain, Chari-Nile Berta

mi ―rain, Mande
gi ―heavens, sky, Sudan
kini ― night, Mangbetu
ni, “rain” (from on high), Proto-Western Nigritic
niin ―”ascend, rise up”, Bantu
nya ―rain, Swahili

ninya, ninyo, “daughter, son” in Spanish

yire ―ascend, Mande

Summary:

God, Li, di, “head, spirit, hand”, gi, “sky”
Heaven, Tu “fire”, Na “above, sky”

una, “heaven” in Sumerian
an “heaven” in Sumerian

Water, La, da, ra

The evidence for an African origins thus far provides a better case for the word God than the PIE *gh ue ―libations, pour‖ or *ǵʰau̯- ―to call, to invoke.

Indo-European: