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As mythology enthusiast, I came to realize that many words from various languages survived into modern area, have their root from mythology deities. Greek and Latin is probably the best example, there are many modern words from Greek and Latin that was originally name of their gods, take for instance:

• Sophia (Wisdom) = Usually considered as female aspect of God, associated with Holy Spirit and consort of Christ.
• Luna (Moon) = Often considered as moon goddess in Roman cult
• Sol (Sun) = Worshipped as sun god in Roman cult, counterpart of Greek’s Helios. His day was celebrated in 25th December, later on Jesus was syncretized with this.
• Mnemonic = God of memory, Mneme
• Somnia = From Somnus, god of sleep
• Easter = from “Isthar”, fertility goddess of Babylon. It’s the most important christianized pagan ritual in western hemisphere.

There are many more, even day in english actually are remnants of pagan worshipping from pre-christian era:

• Sunday (Sun Day, too obvious)
• Monday (Moonday)
• Tuesday (Tyr’s Day, Scandinavian counterpart of Mars/Ares)
• Wednesday (Wodan’s Day, High god from German’s paganism, early considered as Hermes/Mercurius and later evolved into Sky Father Odin)
• Thursday (Thor’s Day, god of lightning of Scandinavian mythlogy, counterpart of Zeus/Jupiter )
• Friday (Frigg’s Day, goddess of fertility, Venus counterpart)
• Saturday (Saturnus, the Titan in Roman mythology. Originally considered father of Jupiter, but later introduced as agriculture god)

Indonesian’s weekdays are derived from Arabic, though unfortunately I couldn’t find whether the original arabic days have their root on myth. Pre-islamic Arabia is noted as the most obscure period in Arab history, and this is also the reason I failed the name of pagan gods before introduction of Allah to Arab.

But interestingly, Javanese and Balinese calendar adopted from Sankrit and hindu practice, which means they might originally have mythological aspect which I am yet to investage.

I also have listed some words in Indonesia modern language which etymology might/might not have relations with the ancient mythology from ancient near east such as:

• Anu = Anu is the god in sumerian pantheon. The word Anu in Indonesia means “something”, or “what”, highly unrelated to its original meaning.
• Lelet = Maybe from the angel of Eleleth or Lilith? Eleleth is angel of Gnostic Myth, whie Lilith is Adam’s 1st wife as informed by Talmud. She also appeared in Babylon myth, and probably when Genesis was written during babylonian captivity. Lelet means “late” though.
• Matahari = Hari could be derived from Horus, Egypt’s sun god. Often associated as counterpart of Christ. His eyes are considered as sun. Mata means Eye, Hari means Day. Mata Hari = Eye of Hari = Eye of Horus = Eye of Day.
• Bulan = From Philipine mythology, Bulan is originally a moon goddess, daugther or Bathala. Bulan means moon in Indonesian language
• Kala = Archaic word of Time, this one is derived from Time god of Hindu origin.
• Maut = From Ugaritic mythology Mot, means death.
• Hawa = means ‘breath’ in our language, originally from Jewish/Hebrew Hawwa that means breah/life as well. Unconsciously used to indicate unexplained power.
• Sabda = From sanskrit origin, counterpart of Greek’s Logos, the divine words of God
• Ya ilah/elah/Allah (Interjection) = Ilah is originally means gods in arab, el is ugaratic god of earth, usually personified as mother goddess (later adopted syncretized with YHWH). Allah of course, Allah, High God of Islam, combination word of al+ilah.
• Alkitab = Indonesian word for Bible, derived from al+kitab (arabic), kitab means book or sacred texts.
• Harta Karun = I never heard the folk tale before, but apparently, there is tale of treasure owned by a man named Qarun, thus it survived into our language as Harta Karun, Treasure of Karun
• Bumi = From Sanskrit origin, means earth, mother goddess
• Sang Hyang = This has interesting origin, because Sang Hyang is sky father and creator which is counterpart of Allah and christian God in Balinese.
• Sri= Demeter’s counterpart, adopted from Shri, Hindu goddess of grain. Usually told to children if they don’t eat all of their rice, they will make Dewi Sri cry
• Ibu Pertiwi = poetic title for a great mother, derived from Hindu Pritivhi
• Alam Baka = There is hebrew word Olam that means ‘World’. I’m still uncertain the original word of Baka, it’s possibly have root from arab. The word Alam Baka means afterlife world.
• Budi = from the word Buddhi, equal to Gnosis in gnostic christianity. Achivement of ultimate knowledge of supreme creator.
• Mentari = The female personification of Sun, another name of Mata Hari.
• Alat = Alat means tools, there is one Goddess of pre-islamic Arabia called “Allat”. The resemblance is striking, but I can’t imagine how to relate between one to another
• Amin = from the word Amen/Amin. The word amen itself has root from Om, the sacred syllable in sanskrit. There is also sun god called Amon-Ra in egyptian pantheon.
• Manusia = from the word Manu, which means human (sanskrit).
• Malak = Malak means blackmailing, but it originally means “King” (Arabic/Hebrew)
• Hikmah = from the arabic, Hikmah. Means Wisdom. Corresponding  Chokmah in Jewish Kabbalah or Sophia in gnostic myth.
• Istri = There is Babylonian goddess called Ishtar.

Due to my limited knowledge, that’s all the only words I could think of. I’m still trying to confirm whether there are sky god called “Langit” in any of oceanic mythologies, because the word that means sky from other languages usually derived from the name of sky god.

Take a look the relations between word of Zeus-Deus-Dyaus, they all name of sky gods from Greek, Latin, and Hindu. Jupiter made from word “ius pater”, means “our Father”. From the mythological root, it’s pretty interesting to note, christian God is result of syncretized deities of El (High god in Canaanite), Yahweh (War God of Median origin), and Jupiter (Roman Sky god).

In Indonesia and arab-speaking community, christians and moslems in these community thought they are worshipping same God, because they use “Allah” to translate the word “God”. As the result, the community often more peaceful.

This is probably the result of Indonesia being melting pot between Hindu, Buddha, and Arabic civilization. I was also told that the first translation of Indonesian bible actually using names resembles Quran (or probably Arabic bible), not the original septuagint written in greek.

There is also another name of God in Indonesia which is “Tuhan”, which is probably derived from the chinese word “Tian” which means “Sky” or “Heaven”. The word “Tian” oftenly used to address “Lords” and “Kings” in chinese. The word “Tu(h)an” derived from this word as well.

For various political reason, catholic and christians in non-arabic-speaking world or these who do not have language with strong arabic/hebrew root do not address their God as “Allah” or “Yahweh” or “Elohim”.

I also often wondering why mythological deities are written as “god” (lowercase). instead of “God” (uppercase). We subconsciously considers these sacred deities nothing more than folklore, forgetting they were once part of daily life and a belief. This is another proof that history is written by winner, and they could determine what is right and what is wrong.

I guess in the end it’s religious leader who shapes the definition of God in accordance to their own interest.

Maybe the world could have been more peaceful if all Gods in the world are assimilated, just like how Ptolemy Soter I fused the gods of Greeks and Egyptian into one. Though such idea sadly, would be considered blasphemous, offensive, and deragotary.

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