God

Etymology and usage

Main article: God (word)

The earliest written form of the Germanic word "god" comes from the 6th century Christian Codex Argenteus. The English word itself descends from the Proto-Germanic *ǥuđan. Most linguists agree that the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form *ǵhu-tу-m was based on the root *ǵhau(ə)-, which meant either "To call" or to "invoke."

The capitalized form "God" was first used in Ulfilas' Gothic translation of the New Testament, to represent the Greek Theos.

In the English language the capitalization continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic "God" and the "gods" of polytheism.[5] The name "God" now typically refers to the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahб'н Faith. Though there are significant cultural divergences that are implied by these different names, "God" remains the common English translation for all.

The name may signify any related or similar monotheistic deities, such as the early monotheism of Akhenaten and Zoroastrianism.

Names of God

Main article: Names of God

Radha and Krishna - The Supreme Personality of Godhead in a painting by Raja Ravi VarmaThe noun God is the proper English name used for the deity of monotheistic faiths. Various English third-person pronouns are used for God, and the correctness of each is disputed. (See God and gender.)

Different names for God exist within different religious traditions:

I am that I am, is, in Christianity and Judaism, God's response to the question of his name. Old Testament (King James Version): "And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exodus 3:13-14)

El, and the plural form אלהים Elohim, is used frequently in Hebrew texts. El was originally a Canaanite god whose name, meaning powerful one, became generic for all god(s) and mighty men in Hebrew. It also is used in reference to deities of other religions, to angels, and to human judges. According to The Oxford Companion To World Mythology (David Leeming, Oxford University Press, 2005, page 118), "It seems almost certain that the God of the Jews evolved gradually from the Canaanite El, who was in all likelihood the 'God of Abraham'...If El was the high god of Abraham - Elohim, the prototype of Yahveh - Asherah was his wife, and there are archeological indications that she was perceived as such before she was in effect 'divorced' in the context of emerging Judaism of the seventh century B.C.E. (See 2 Kings 23:15)".

Allah is the Arabic name for God,[6] which is used by Muslims and also by non-Muslim Arabs such as the Christians of Lebanon and the Jews of Yemen for example. The word الله Allah is derived from the words Allaha (He was Deified), Yu'allihu (He is Deified) and Alooha (Deification). It is believed that Allah is a cognate of the northwest Semitic El (Hebrew אל "El", dual form אלוה "Eloah") and the Aramaic ܐܰܠܳܗܳܐ "Alвhв". The words el, eloah and alaha, are also the generic words for a god (any deity). However the word Allah is only used when referring to the Creator/Originator of the universe. When speaking of a lesser god or the generic word for god in Arabic, the word ilah is used. When speaking in English, Muslims often translate "Allah" as "God". One Islamic tradition states that Allah has 99 names, or Attributes that are unique to Him such as the Provider, the Sustainer, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing, the Creator, etc.. Muslims feel that because Allah is the only One with these Names, He is the only One in existence worthy of worship; seeing all forms of polytheism as being futile.

YHWH (Hebrew: Yodh-He-Waw-He, יהוה ), often transliterated as Yahweh, is the name most often used for God in untranslated Hebrew scriptures, appearing more than 6700 times. Jewish tradition is that YHWH, a collection of consonants only, without vowels, is unpronounceable. Where it appears in Hebrew text it is traditional to substitute another word as a replacement for the ineffable name of God. (In Orthodox Judaism,G-d is even substituted for the English word God.) In most English Bibles, translations of the Hebrew usually substitute the LORD (cf. Adonai), or our God (Elohenu). For example, Shema Yisroel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad! (Hear Israel, The L-RD our G-D, The L-RD is One!) In some Christian texts, it is transliterated to function as a pronounceable name as in Jehovah as found in the American Standard Version, the Darby Bible and the New World Translation or Yahweh as found the Jerusalem Bible.

YHWH, the name of God or Tetragrammaton, in Phoenician (1100 BC to AD 300), Aramaic (10th century BC to 1st century AD) and modern Hebrew scripts.Bhagavan - "The Opulent One", Brahman -"The Great", Paramatma - "The Supersoul" and Ishvara- "The Controller", are the terms used for God in the Vedas. A number of Hindu traditions worship a personal form of God or Ishvara, such as Vishnu or Shiva, whereas others worship a non-personal Supreme Cosmic Spirit, known as Brahman. The Vaishnava schools consider Vishnu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and within this tradition is the Vishnu sahasranama, which is a hymn describing the one thousand names of God (Vishnu). Shaivites consider Shiva as the Supreme God in similar way to the followers of Vaishnavism. The Supreme Ishvara of Hinduism must not be confused with the numerous deities or demigods who are collectively known as devas.

Krishna - "The All Attractive" is the name for God used in Srimad Bhagavatam, which says that "All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Sri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead".[7]In Bhagavad Gita Krishna