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[[Image:Gudis Argenteus.jpg|thumb|140px|Earliest attestation of the Germanic word in the [[6th century]] [[Codex Argenteus]] ([[Gospel of Matthew|Mt]] 5:9)]]
[[Image:God2-Sistine_Chapel.png|thumb|300px|[[16th century]] Christian view of [[Genesis]]: God creates [[Adam]] ([[Michelangelo]], [[Sistine Chapel]])]]
God
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== Etymology ==
The word ''God'' continues [[Old English]]/[[Germanic languages|Germanic]] ''god'' (''guþ, gudis'' in [[Gothic]], ''Gott'' in modern [[German language|German]]). The original meaning and [[etymology]] of the Germanic word ''god'' have been hotly disputed, though most agree to a reconstructed [[Proto-Indo-European]] form ''*ǵhutóm'', which is a passive perfect participle from the root ''*ǵhu-'', which likely meant "[[libation]]", "[[sacrifice]]". Compare:-
* [[Vedic]] [[Sanskrit]] ''hu-'' = "to sacrifice".
Most believers allow for the existence of other, less powerful spiritual beings, and give them names such as [[angel]]s, [[saint]]s, [[Djinn]], [[demon]]s, and [[devas]].
==== Biblical definition of God ====
The [[Hebrew Bible]] ([[Old Testament]]) characterizes God by these attributes: "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6–7)
