Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/210

 178 Collectanea.

majesty " can be held to be relevant. The formal expurgation of all references to the " Gods " of the early Semites would render such an explanation necessary. But outside of orthodox circles Jahweh is recognised as a tribal god, and only one of a number of similar deities. No doubt the Elohistic tradition to begin with took in all the powers and only later compressed them. So far as I am aware the use of the honorific plural is not common among Semitic races. To say so is purely a theological gloss. I see it is stated in The Book of Genesis (S. R. Driver, 1909) that the idea originally expressed by the word Floah (single of Elohim), i.e. its root meaning, is unknown. But the writer adds that El, the usual term for God in Assyrian, etc., is equally obscure as to its significance. From what I have heard I doubt if all Semitic scholars would agree with him.

The Semitic gods certainly seem to have been dwellers on the heights, which suggests their devotees were not plain dwellers, or that they had mountains in sight. I know nothing of the Semitic tongues ; but the root El or Al, according to my friend, Mr. Max Montesole, is probably a triliteral root Alh, in which the " A " or Aleph is a consonantal guttural, practically unpronounceable except as a vowel by non-Semites. This root means "high," and was referred gradually to those who dwelt in high places, such as the gods. So we get the Semitic high places of worship. The modern Greek for Olympos is Elymbo, which seems rather more like Elohim than the old form. According to Mr. A, B. Cook's Zeus, St. Elias of the Catholic hagiology has displaced Zeus in most of his hill-seats called Olympos. Perhaps this is because of the El portion of the name. But St. Elias is still Zeus. He is a hill-top saint of great power; a thunder and fine weather wielder : in fact, a Catholic Sky-god and also a Sun-god. He endues Jove's mantle, as the Virgin took over the robes of departed Virgin and mother goddesses. In Kilikia there was Olymbros, a deity identified with Zeus, and in the same country is found the ancient seat of Zeus Olbios in Uzundja-Burdj or "Tall Castle," which is a hill 3500 feet high. If I am right in suggesting an early Semitic origin for 01, El, or other variations of the root with vowels for the initial and final consonantal gutturals of the true triliteral form, we may here note that the nature of the