Re: xebro

[eric (Eric S. Raymond)]

> > Oh, and BTW, is Allah to be considered
> > synonymous with jegvo?  That would likely get on the nerves of a lot of
> > Muslims.  Maybe Allah rates a gismu, or maybe neither does.  cevni may have
> > to cover it.
> 
> That question is deliberately left open.  Our understanding was that the
> necessary garbling to make "Allah" into a gismu would be culturally
> unacceptable.  It is also an open question whether "jegvo" means "God",
> or whether it is the cultural adjective "Judeo-Christian".  "cevni" of course
> is any sort of god, capitalized or not.

It is, in fact, correct Islamic theology to regard `Allah' and `Jehovah' as the
same god (and, in fact, pious Moslems revere Jesus as one of the seven great
prophets leading up to `the Seal of the Prophets', Mohammed).

Islam's position is formally that it represents the purified form of the 
worship of the God of the Moslems, Christians, and Jews --- the `People of
the Book' (that is, the Bible).  Islamic law and tradition makes sharp
distinctions between the `People of the Book' and `idolaters'.

So much for history.  Now for linguistic deconstruction...
 
> My personal view is that "jegvo" means "God" and that Allah cu jegvo.

While this is correct Islamic theology, I must differ with the implied
assumption.  It is ethnocentric, and far too partial to the Judeo-Christian-
Islamic traditions, to identify `jegvo' with `God'.  Other traditions have
omnipotent creator-gods too; consider the `Atman' of Hinduism as a fine
example of one that won't fit into a linguistic box cognate to JHVH.  Indeed
Mr. Cowan's view strays perilously close to giving lojban an established
religion.... !!! :-)

Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that the deities of all the `ethical
monotheisms' had sufficient in common to be described by the same gismu, *and*
that their worshipers were willing to swallow a gismu so patently derived from
JHVH...this arrangement would *still* do semantic violence to persons who,
like myself, adhere to notions of `godhood' more complex and subtle than the
one implied by `jegvo'.  Even if you don't find my out-and-out polytheism
respectable, you might at least consider the feelings of the world's Buddhists!

Cultural neutrality demands that we not read our culture's prejudices into
such an important gismu.  `Jegvo' must be read `the Judeo/Christian/Islamic
/Zoroastrian creator-God' (oh, you want to know about the Zoroastrians? ask
me by private email sometime...).  Personally, I'd rather the evil old bastard
didn't get a gismu at all, but, hey, that's just *my* prejudices showing...
-- 
							>>eric>>