GOD, the common Teutonic word for a personal object of religious worship. It is thus, like Gr. 0€6s and Lat. dens, applied to all superhuman beings of heathen mythologies who exercise power over nature and man; and also to images of supernatural beings or trees, pillars, etc., used as symbols. The word "god" on the conversion of the Teutonic races to Christianity, was ap plied to the one Supreme Being, and to the Persons of the Trinity.
Popular etymology has connected the word with "good." This is exemplified by the corruption of "God be with you" into good bye. In Gothic it is Guth; Dutch has the same form as English; Danish and Swedish have Gud, German Gott. According to the New English Dictionary, the original may be found in two Aryan roots, both of the form ghee, one of which means "to invoke," the other "to pour" ; the last is used of sacrificial offerings. The word would thus mean the object either of religious invocation or of religious worship by sacrifice.
See RELIGION ; HEBREW RELIGION ; THEISM, etc.