01-31-2012, 06:48 PM
Doublethink Wrote:Hey, guys.
I hope you don't mind my barging in like this, but having come across this issue before, I just thought I might put my two cents in. I can't say that I'm particularly well-versed in either Peshitta Aramaic or Hebrew, but I have read texts on the religious practices of the Assyro-Babylonians that touched upon concepts similar to the ones being discussed. It feels a bit strange broaching this topic on a site dedicated to the Bible, but here it goes.
One particular book explains that the Akkadian word "qadishtu", transliterated as "holy one", was used as a title for cult or temple prostitutes. The Hebrew equivalent of this word is "qadeshah" (note the Q-D-S root) which means the same. Both were thought to play a religious/sexual role in Babylonia, which I think that parallels nicely with Qetesh/Qadesh being the Sumerian goddess of sexual pleasure and sacred ecstasy. Also, the male counterpart, "qadesh", is translated as "sodomite" in the KJV. So, yes. There is definitely some sort of pagan connection there.
But that's not to say that Judaism and Semitic Christianity are pagan religions in any way. As has been previously said, these languages developed gradually over a very long period of time (the written record for both Hebrew and Aramaic goes back at least 3000 years, so try to imagine just how long people have been speaking them), and retained many of the words used prior to the rise of Abrahamic religion. Just to prove it: I know for a fact that the title given to Saints in the ACoE is "Qadisha" (m.) or "Qadishta" (f.). These words still mean "holy one", but are used in a completely different way.
I guess the idea here is that languages develop in (very) interesting ways.
My apologies if anything I said was incorrect!
Incorrect or not, I can certainly say it made plenty of sense. <!-- s:biggrin: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/biggrin.gif" alt=":biggrin:" title="Big Grin" /><!-- s:biggrin: -->