>>I heard that something similar happened with the western names for God.
>
>Hmm.. Could be. I don't have an angle on this but I'd be delighted to learn this.
Well, it is something I heard said; I don't have a reference, and can't prove it. Or disprove it, for that matter.
>>All this would only affect the ethymological research; not the basic beliefs.
>
>I think I'd disagree here. From the Christian pov the 'essence' or 'nature' of god is self-defining so the definitions here would matter a lot.
I don't quite understand what you mean here.
Anyway, if you want to say "God" in Arabic (like, to translate the Bible), you would use the common Arabic word, "Allah". The way I understand it, that is simply the word they use. So the ethimology is just that - ethimology.
Hilmar.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
