Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical DevelopmentGoldziher, Ignác
Religion
Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development
Goldziher, Ignác
Jewish mythology; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
Sun among the Bedawî.[192] But in the order of genesis the worship of
the night-sky, inclusive of that of the moon, precedes that of the
day-sky and the sun. It was observed long ago that wherever sun-worship
exists, moon-worship also is always to be found, being a residuum of the
earlier stage of religion; but not in the reverse order.[193] We shall
have to revert in a subsequent chapter to this fact, in speaking of the
religion of the nomadic Hebrews, and will therefore only refer to a few
points in the ancient Arabic religion. If Blau is right in interpreting
the old Arabic proper name ʿAbd Duhmân as ‘Servant of the Darkness of
Night,’[194] the theological importance of the night-sky to the ancient
Arabs in general is proved; for it is well known that in Arabic proper
names compounded with ʿAbd ‘servant’ the second member of the compound
is a god’s name, or at least a name of theological meaning.[195] To the
same class belongs the Moon-worship of the ancient Arabs, which is
sufficiently attested.[196] The clearest evidence of a worship of the
rainy sky and the storm among the Arabs is furnished by the name Ḳuzaḥ,
to which storms and rainbows were attributed (see the following chapter
§ 12). Arabian etymologists, among whom may be mentioned the author of
the Ḳâmûs and the author of the Supercommentary on that dictionary,
publishing at Bûlâḳ, have tried many combinations in order to find a
suitable explanation of this Ḳuzaḥ, with especial reference to the
meaning ‘rainbow;’ all the derivative significations of the root ḳzḥ,
_embellishment_, _variety of colour_, _lifting oneself_, are brought
forward to yield a sufficient ground for the appellation. This proves
how little the Mohammedan now knows of his heathen antiquity; the use of
the name Ḳuzaḥ must have been interdicted. Al-Damîrî, in his work Almasâ
ʾil al-manthûrâ, finds a deep-seated error in the word itself, instead
of which he wishes to read kazaʿ with _ʿayn_, with the meaning
‘cloud.’[197] But it is probable that this name Ḳuzaḥ is derived from
the signification ‘mingere,’ which belongs to the corresponding verb
(used specially of beasts), and that it is due to a mythological
conception of the Rain. This circumstance tempts us to connect the
Hebrew word bûl ‘rain, rainy month’ with the Arabic bâla, yabûlu
‘mingere.’ If so, the combination of this word with the name of the God
Baʿal, which certainly does occur in Himyaric in the form Bûl, must have
been made later, from a misunderstanding of the mythological
relations.[198] The theological power of Ḳuzaḥ among the ancient Arabs
is evident as well from its being explained by Moslem interpreters as
the name of a devil or angel, as also from the fact that geographical
appellations which are in force in the ritual of the old religion are
connected with it.[199] These elements of the worship of the night and
the cloudy and stormy sky must have priority before those of the solar
worship which are found subsisting beside them. F.
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