Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-24
OLDEST NAME OF DEITY.
Hebrew Elohim Annotated by Egyp-
tan Nutar.

From the Literary Digest.
The words "Jehoyah" and "Elohim'' were
in common use among the Jews in Old Tes-
lament times, and there is good reason for
assuming that the latter term, plural OF
a word Simplifying majesty, lordship and
government, was in use among the primi-
tive nations of the east long antecedent to
the Mosaic era. These facts do not, how
ever, warrant the conclusion that "Jeho-
vah' and "Elohim' are the most ancient
names of the Deity. They are antedated
by the Egyptian title "Nutar"-or, to be
more exact, "Nutar Nutra Amtu Heret'
the Almighty Power which is in heaven.
Prof Renouf, French archeologist, en-
phasiZes this point in his book on The
Religion of Ancient Egypt" He declares:
1.-THE Egyptian 'Nutar' means power,
which Is also the meaning Of the Hebrew
Ell The extremely common Egyptian eX-
preston 'Nutar Nutra' exactly corresponds
in sense to the Hebrew Ell Shaddai,' the
very title by which God tells Moses that he
was known to Abraham and Isaac and ia
cob: And God spoke unto Moses, and said
unto him, am Jahve; and appeared unto
Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the
name of eel Shaddai;" but by my name
"Jahve' was I not known to Them
ut is very remarkable that 'Brahma' in
Sanscrit meant originally Power, the same
as Ell. 1t resisted for a long time the
NEUROLOGICAL contagion, but at last it
yielded like all other names of God and be-
came the name of one god But the Egyp-
tian 'Nutar' never became a proper name.
1t was indeed restricted in it's use as far
back as our knowledge of the language en-
ables us to trace 1t, but it never ceased to
be common noun, and was applied indif-
ferently to each Of the powers which the
Egyptians conceived as active in the uni
verse and to the Power from which all
powers proceed. 'Horus' and .Ra' and
osiris and Set are names of individual
finite powers; but power without a name
or any NEUROLOGICAL characteristic is con-
stantly referred to in the singular number,
and can only be regarded as the sensus
numinis, or direct conception of the Infii-
mite, which. like my learned predecessor
Prof. Max Muller, 1 consider not the result
OF reasoning or generalizing for revelation
put as an intuition as irresistible as the
Impressions of the Senses
These views are Endorsed by Mr.. Logan A.
Wood, writer in Biblia (Meriden, Novem-
ber), who says
In the foregoing we unquestionably get
the true and most ancient name of the
Deity. That ancient Egyptian civilization
is the oldest known civilization is an indis-
putable fact. More than six thousand years
ago Egypt bursts upon the world in his
tory full-grown nation, with a blown
civilization in the flower Of it's matchless
perfection, with no evidence of so-called
patriarchal life, rude beginning or infancy.
1t is unquestfonably the father of the civ
lliZed peoples and nations of the World-ave
the civilized world for more than two thou
sand years. Hence. the memorable logic of
this fact is that there is where the memo
RAJ name God forever among all genera
tons was of record and known. Where
else could 1t have been? There was no
other place to record it. for, 1 repeat an
Gent Egypt was the whole civilized world
for more than two thousand years, during
which the Pharaohs claimed dominion over
the whole world"