Mirror, Mirror

The first mirrors used by people were bodies of water such as lakes and small pools.  The image reflected by the water is ephemeral in nature and easily disturbed. This may be part of the reason why mirrors have always been considered mysterious and magical. 

    Mt. Hood reflected in Mirror Lake, Oregon Cascades, by Janis Miglovs

For a moment there is a beautiful crystal clear image. Then the idea creeps in, move closer, touch it, go into it, become one with it. The hand reaches out, and in an instant the image, and the other world is gone. However, unlike other types of mirrors (unless you are Alice) a person can actually pass through a water mirror and, indeed, find himself or herself in a whole new world, submarine.

    Echo and Narcissus(detail) - John Williams Waterhouse 1903

Narcissius admired his own beautiful image in a pool of water. He was so enamored with his reflected image that he stayed there gazing at it until he died. 

Mirror is from the French mireoir "a reflecting glass, looking glass; observation, model, example," from Old French mirer "look at (oneself in the mirror), "observe, watch, contemplate " from Vulgar Latin *mirare "to look at [OE]." So, the name comes from its use as an instrument for looking, or from the action of the one who can see themself reflected in it. A mirror is a "looker," or a "looking glass," as they used to be called. Mirare (to look at) is a variant of mirari "to wonder at, admire, be astonished, marvel." And it is a marvelous thing to be able to see your reflection. A person who had not seen a mirror before, upon looking at one for the first time, might even think it was some sort of miracle. Miracle is from Latin miraculum "object of wonder".

The first hand held mirrors were made from obsidian. Some examples have been found from Anatolia (modern day Turkey) that date to around 6000 B.C. 

  Obsidian mirror

It is interesting that obsidian has been used to make both mirrors and knives. The oldest obsidian blades have been found at Gobekli Tepe, Turkey, dating to around 9,000 B.C., or earlier. The cutting edge of a newly flaked obsidian blade is very sharp and can easily slice through thick skin. It is many many times sharper than a high quality steel blade.

    Mayan obsidian Blade, c. 600-900 A.D.

And can't a mirror do the same thing? A mirror reflects what is, the truth, and sometimes the truth can hurt. It can cut like a knife. A knife can be instrumental in catching and preparing food, which gives strength, but it can also wound, and take away strength. Even a cut to the body can be intended for either health, as in a surgery, or for harm, as in beheading.

Both mirrors and knives are neutral tools, but they are called either friend or foe depending on the news they bring or what they are being used for. They have a dual nature. En garde!

    Magic Mirror - Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarves 1937

Queen: Slave in the magic mirror, come from the farthest space, through wind and darkness I summon thee. Speak! Let me see thy face.  

Magic Mirror: What wouldst thou know, my Queen?  

Queen: Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?  

Magic Mirror: Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, a lovely maid I see. Rags cannot hide her gentle grace. Alas, she is more fair than thee.

Black obsidian mirrors and water bowls were often used in the past for scrying and ritual, rather than as the common glass mirrors used today, for the ordinary purpose of seeing how one looks. 

More modern metallic backed glass mirrors like this were not used until the first century A.D.

  Armond-Albert Rateau, Bronze and ivory hand mirror c. 1925

Polished copper mirrors came into use in Mesopotamia, around 4000 B.C, and later, in Egypt, around 3000 B.C. However, these polished metal mirrors were not able to produce a clear image like modern mirrors.

For now we see in a mirror(esoptron) dimly(ainigma), but then face to face. 1 Cor 13:12 [RSV]

The biblical Greek word esoptron έσόπτρον has the meaning of "a mirror made of highly polished metal," rather than a glass mirror. So it seems to be a bit of a misnomer to translate this passage as, "through a glass darkly," as in the King James Version.  Also the adjective, ainigma αίνιγμα "a riddle, enigma," is translated as "dimly, or darkly."  In a polished copper or brass mirror we see a poor reflection and maybe a confused image. We are left wondering about what we are really looking at. However, it is not about any lack of light, or "darkness" in that respect. The problem is with the quality of the mirror. We may end up "left in the dark" without enough information.  However, no mater how bright the polished metal mirror is, what is seen through it is not a clear color image, and in that sense a "dim" reflection, but perhaps, "indistinctly"Youngs Literal Translation, or "obscurely"Complete Jewish Bible are the better translations in this case.

The English name Mary comes from the Hebrew Miryam it is said. The Greek Mariam or Maria is also derived from the Hebrew. There seems to be a lot of different interpretations of the meaning of the name Mary.

    Caravaggio - Martha and Mary Magdalene c. 1598

As a name stemming from Hebrew, Mary has a few different connections. Marah has the meaning of "to be contentious, rebellious." It can have the meaning of "to be bitter," marar, " and mar / marah "bitter, bitterness. It also has a sound connection to mar'ah  meaning a "mirror (of bronze)," from mar'ah "vision", feminine form of mareh "sight, appearance, vision," from raah "to see". Often the name Mary is said to mean "bitter", "rebelled", or "wished-for child." Sometimes the meaning is said to be "sea of bitterness." This interpretation would be from Miryam. Yam was the name of a Canaanite god of the sea, yam meaning "sea." Yam represented the tempestuous, untamed, raging, forces of the abyss. 

Mere meaning "lake, pond, arm of the sea" is from Old English mere "sea, ocean; lake, pool, cistern," from Proto-Germanic *mari, source of German meer "sea", also Latin mare "sea", Russian more "sea". Is the sea, then, like a mirror (mere-or) made out of water? Or is the sea a see-er, that is, a vision-er, a looker, a.k.a., a mirror)? What marah (vision) does one see in this mere (sea)? What does one see in the sea?  Often heaven (sky) or the heavens, right?

Mor meaning "myrrh" in Hebrew is also from marar "bitter," and also has to do with, mar which has the meaning "drop." Myrrh is collected from the drops of hardened resin that bleed out of the tree when it is cut. That would be a mar (drop) of the mor (myrrh).  

Drops of Myrrh Resin

The yam "sea" is made up from many many drops. One mar(drop) more or less does not make any difference to the mere(sea). It's merely one mar(drop).

Yet, we also say, Mary, as in Merry, from Old English merge "pleasing, agreeable , pleasant, sweet. But is that pleasantness and sweetness without any bitterness? No, it is somehow contained in it. We say Merry Christmas, yet Jesus was a baby born with a mission to suffer and die. 

The name Mary, has a bit of a different tradition coming from the ancient Egyptian meaning of the word. In ancient Egyptian the name Meri, mr(i) had the meaning of "beloved". Is there not any connection between these two languages and words? The Israelites were, as we know, very connected to ancient Egypt at times, even living among the Egyptians. Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel, was second in power next to Pharaoh, and married Aseneth, the daughter of a priest of On (Heliopolis). Can someone be beloved without causing a certain kind of bitterness? If you love someone you fear the loss of them. A person who is meri "beloved" can be the cause of the most severe suffering or bitterness, more severe than any enemy. So the name Mary / Mariam / Maria / Miryam is "bitter", but in ancient Egyptian Meri is "beloved" and mr(i) as a hieroglyph had the meaning of "love, desire, wish," they are not so different as they first seem. Love is a sea of bitterness.

    I am the Sea, photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

Mortality is also bitter.

Myrrh is used to anoint the dead, those subject to mortality. In Hebrew mor is "myrrh", so we might say myrrhtality is bitter. The Hebrew word is made with the letters mem and resh. Mem is the letter of "water" mayim, and resh is representative of the head and illumination. Therefore we might say mor (myrrh) is the water (i.e., liquid) of illumination. Myrrh was named after the bitter quality of the resin. Seeing the truth mirrored can be bitter, but also enlightening. And death is bitter, death bites, but what comes from this experience of death? What do we gain from our mortality, this bitterness? Just the fact of our mortality has the ability to illumine a certain path when it is contemplated. What is important, knowing that someday you will die, that at any moment any of your friends family, or children could cease to exist in your reality? Death can be an agent of enlightenment for those willing to look in his mirror. 

Jean Peuget de la Serre, London 1639, The British Museum

And isn't that a kind of truth? Knowing both the flattering and the unflattering truth? The truth that is pleasant and the truth which is bitter? Some might call this the knowledge of good and evil, but knowledge isn't really ever evil. It may be adverse or a bitter pill, but why call this "evil" when what is experienced as bitter can bring enlightenment? How can the truth ever be evil?  

And isn't Christ the truth? Christos Χριστός = Christ in Greek, i.e., the anointed, from Greek chrió [chi = χ, rho = ρ] "anointing". The chi  + rho [Χ, Ρ] itself is actually a pictogram of the word "anointing" when you look at it. Chi is a mark, i.e., χ upon the, rho, head(ρ). In Phoenician the symbol χ was the letter Tau meaning "mark", and the ρ in Greek is the "r" sound rho, from the Phoenician letter res meaning "head." The mark upon the head confers kingship, or is the sign of a ruler, one who has been smeared (smirrored) with oil upon his / her crown (head). Why else should one person rule another, unless he or she has knowledge or is enlightened above others? What does the oil symbolize? 

The fulfillment of Jesus's mission was in his death and resurrection, we do not call him king, but for this bitterness which he endured in order to bear witness to the truth and free us from the bondage of death and decay.

     Chi Rho on a Cross,  Anastasis, at Tor Marancia, Rome c. 350 C.E.

Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness(martyreso) to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice." Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" John 18:37-38

The Christ is the "anointed" one, mashiach in Hebrew, from mashach "smear with oil, anoint" meshach "oil," and he is anointed with the muron "anointing-oil" Greek. The responsibility of being the anointed one is to serve others and carries a certain amount of bitterness when taken seriously. However, the oil is also sweet smelling and makes the skin gleam (shine, luminous). Any bitterness contained in the resin of the perfumed oil only serves to confer a quality and impression of one who is raised above others. In biblical Greek elaion is "olive oil, oil" (calls to mind Hebrew elyon "most high"). The smearing with the elaion (an oil that is elevated both to the head and in dignity), may bring about a certain elation, from Latin eleus "elevated", or a feeling of being clean, and looking, and smelling your best. 

    Olive Oil - Elaion 

When you see your reflection it is good to have a clear flat mirror, otherwise your image may be distorted. It would still only be a reflection of what is, but not a clear image, like in a broken mirror, or a funhouse mirror. 

    Broken Mirror/Evening Sky, by Bing Wright- 2013

People are mirrors to each other, especially parents to their children.  If we have parents or friends who do not support us we may start to view ourselves as our image in a broken mirror, or like the grotesquely distorted image in a funhouse mirror. Imagine if there was the perfect mirror to reflect your image back to yourself. Isn't that mirror Christ / the Christ? 

"I am the way and the truth and the life." Jn. 14:6 

It seems like Christ would be the best mirror, or the mirror of the Most High God (El Elyon). This is actually said of Wisdom(Sophia).

For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Wisdom of Solomon 7:26

There are billions of people and billions of eyes (or mirrors) to see ourselves through, however, when you know that there is one mirror that will not distort your image, you can disregard all the other images, if needed, and cling to the one image of the mirror of truth and unconditional love. First and foremost view yourself through the eyes (mirror) of (a)Christ. 

A pupil of an eye actually does look like an obsidian mirror; a black mirror.

    Front View of Human Eye with Dilated Pupil, by Adam Heart-davis

In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs the symbol meaning "life" was an ankh, but ankh, '-n-h, was also a word used for mirror, and in fact mirrors were often made with an ankh shape (think of hand mirrors), and were sometimes stored in ankh shaped boxes.  

    Egyptian Ankh Mirror Case, From Valley of the Kings, by Kenneth Garret

The life which was represented by the ankh was specifically eternal life, or life itself.

The symbol was often shown being held to the nose or lips to symbolize the gift of the breath / spirit of life which the gods possessed, like Wisdom(Sophia) / Holy Spirit 

    Anubis and Hathor Transmitting Eternal Life to Tut, Thebes, Egypt

So we might even say that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the ankh ("life" or "mirror"). In Hebrew this would be Chavvah / Chawwah / Havvah "living, breath of life"(related to chay "life"(sounds like "kai") which is traslated in English in Genesis 3:20 as Eve "living", and Mary is called the "New Eve", in Latin Eva, Ave Maria. Mary is also called "Seat or Throne of Wisdom(Sophia)". 

We might be inclined to think that our modern metallic backed glass mirrors are the best mirrors. They do give very clear images, however, the black mirrors seem to be more magical. Like the pupil of the eye takes in the light and then sight is created in our minds. Our vision creates a such a good image that we don't even think it is an image, but rather we view it simply as what is. 

And look at this other black mirror. It enables me to hold the wisdom of the world in the palm of my hand, to communicate with, see and interact with people around the world. It really is a magic mirror.

My iPhone is a black mirror when it is turned off - photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

In the not too distant past we would have been considered gods for possessing these magic mirrors, and might have even been accused of being in league with the devil. We would probably have been burnt at the stake for dabbling in such witchery. This modern everything communication device is truly an invention mirus "wonderful" Latin.

Me: "Siri, anoint me."
Siri: "I'm not sure I understand."

Hey, are you a computer or a magic mirror?
Clearly we still have some work to do.

Beam us up, Scotty!

*The Problem With Language

    Egyptian Hieroglyphic Writing  [Hieroglyphs could be written to be read in columns vertically, or horizontally(mainly read right to left, but sometimes left to right)].

Written language was much more fluid and expansive in form and interpretation before modern alphabets were fully developed, such as with hieroglyphic writing. The representational pictures and symbols used early on began as pictures with inherent meaning and then evolved into the letters of the writing systems we have today. 

The symbols of writing systems evolve from pictograms / pictographs, i.e., pictures that resemble what they signify.

Pictograms of Fruit: watermelon = watermelon, lemon = lemon, etc. 

Simple pictograms may evolve into more complex ideograms, i.e., a symbol that is meant to stand for an idea of a thing, or a for things (but does not necessarily indicate how it is spoken). Pictograms or ideograms can be used to convey intentional meaning between people who speak different languages.

 

Ideogram [it is not a word]

Pictograms and ideograms can be used as logograms, i.e., (specifically a logogram is) a symbol that is meant to represent a word. Numerals are logograms, for example, when 1 is read as "one," or when the dollar sign  is read as "dollar(s)" it is a logogram. So $1 is read as "one dollar." However, if dollar signs are covering a page ($ $ $) we know that we are not meant to literally read it as, "dollars, dollars, dollars . . .," rather we are just supposed to get the idea of "a lot of money," so in that case the symbol is a different type of usage of an ideogram and not meant to be spoken 🤑. Therefore, sometimes the same symbols can be used in various ways, and we determine their intended meaning and value by context.

Hieroglyphs use ideograms(pictures/symbols) as logograms(words) and determinatives(not spoken but indicate context, clarify or emphasize adjacent words or phrases), as well as using ideograms which compose phonetic elements. Some symbols/glyphs are used to represent either a singular(unilateral), two letter(bilateral) or three letter(trilateral) combination of sounds, or word forming elements that are used to spell words. The same glyphs used phonetically are also often used at other times, to represent ideas or whole words.

Hieroglyphic Phonetic Glyphs

Written languages were originally much more complex in available meaning, or you might say, right brained, or yin, than they are now. Written language has evolved to accomplish quick precise communication, and ease of production in separate languages and different systems. This allows for a certain kind of efficient clarity in the passing of knowledge. However, at the same time, it confuses, and can even undermine a different kind of transference of knowledge having to do with origins, connectivity, and expansive themes.

Furthermore, there is the problem of transliteration and translation between languages. When  words are converted from a text from one alphabet or writing system to another in a different language, the words need to be transliterated, such as the names of a places like ׳רושלם "Jerusalem." The spelling of the word is attempted to be converted to a different alphabet or writing system(but the meaning of the word is not necessarily retained). And sometimes words are translated to a word with the same or similar meaning in the new language(the original meaning is attempted to be kept, but not the sound of the word in the original language). Two people who speak the same language may not even transliterate words into their own language the same way, especially if there is a type of sound spoken in the first language without an exact equivalent in the other. So one word can have several different spellings when transliterated into the new language, and then as a consequence varied pronunciations. Words are not always translated to the same exact word in a different language by two different translators either. 

For example in English we sometimes write either 'h' or 'ch' for the palital sound found in other languages, as in, the word Hanukka/Hanukkah/Chanukah/Chanukkah. There is not only one correct or agreed upon spelling in English, and proper pronunciation is often lost on English speakers who are not familiar with the origin of the word. Then what happens when a word gets transliterated or translated into yet another language, and become part of the vocabulary of a new language? And then maybe this process occurs yet again over long periods of time? We move from Hawwah/Chawwah/Havah/Havvah/Chavvah, meaning "life, life-giver," to the ancient Greek Εύα / Εύα (Epsilon, Upsilon, Alpha), transliterated to English Heua/Eua, but it looks more like "Eva" in appearance(especially with certain fonts, in the Greek script), simply meaning "the wife of Adam," [The Greek language also uses a different alphabet. It is similar enough to the Roman alphabet to cause abundant confusion to readers of English, see below]

Greek and English Alphabets(omega - small 'o' looks like a 'w', mi - small 'm' looks like a 'u', ni - the small 'n' looks like a 'v', gamma - the small 'g' looks like a 'y', ro - the 'r' looks like a 'p', etc.)

In English we get Eve from the Latin Eva, also taken from the Hebrew.  So we say Eve means "life," but it doesn't look or really even sound anything like the word Havvah/ Chawwah. 

 Hebrew to English(Notice Hebrew is read right to left, not left to right)

Notice further that Havah written in Hebrew looks(as shown above, חןה) nothing like its transliteration into English. It is different system altogether from English and the Latin alphabet. 

So in Greek and Latin(and therefore English) the name was transliterated, but not translated. If it had been translated to retain its meaning, we would be calling the woman in the garden of Eden Life or Lifegiver and the man would be called Man or Human(the humus-man "soil/earth"-man, or the man made out of the adamah "earth/ground").

And it can go on and on, "Eve/Havvah" can be put into another writing system like Chinese, and the writing system is entirely different again. The characters which form the name "Eve"[below] are pronounced as "Shya-wa" Xiàwá in Chinese and Adam is "Ya-dang" Yàdāng.

    Eve Written in Chinese

This is not to say that the left brained, yang, understanding of language is bad and we need to go back to symbolic language systems. But, rather both should be honored, and both utilized to gain complete knowledge. A marriage of the yin and yang(remember it is the union of the polarities, masculine/feminine, that creates "babies," that would be "new knowledge" in this case, and life is born through the yin/feminine). Language is not absolutely sterile or simple, black and white, even though it can be used in that manner(think, a mother, language, gives birth to both male/yang and female/yin children). In reality how language has developed and evolved over thousands of years of time is VERY complex.  It is like a game of telephone played on a COSMIC scale! What this points to is that any information you can get out of language is valid as information.

If something looks, sounds, or reminds you of another thing in any way, there is a reason for that similarity, it is a type of information that you have gathered. What is the reason? What is the connection? That is the question. Investigation is necessary. Not all connections are of equal weight, and not all connections bring about greater understanding, necessarily. Language can have meaning on multiple levels. So much of the story is blurred, buried and convoluted over thousands of years of time. It is a vast undulating sea, and it can be uncomfortable and disconcerting. We want to have solid ground below our feet. However, if people only did that we would have never made it to the "New World." What we really need is balance, and proper respect for what both the land, and the sea have to offer. It's safest to try and channel, or embrace your inner mermaid. Boats can sink . . .

     The Mermaid (detail), Howard Pyle (1853-1911) - photo of postcard 

King of the Jungle

   

Jungle Oasis

The word jungle comes from Sanskrit  jangala "arid, sparsely grown with trees", and Hindi jangal "desert, forest, wasteland, uncultivated land." So the meaning of the word jungle was originally not just the lush tropical, almost mythical, place we think of now. It had the meaning of any uncultivated place, even a desert, a wilderness, as in the place of testing from the bible, or the deshret, the "red (deshr) land," of the ancient Egyptians, ruled by the god of chaos, Set, the place of burial.  It seems that jungle as we use the word today has a more limited meaning; a tropical overgrown, tangled forest with vines. Like the place where we imagine Tarzan would be found.

    Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, by Edgar Rice Burrows 1928

But maybe a lot of this perception comes from movies. We see Tarzan encountering all kinds of creatures in the jungle, when actually not all of them may be found there. The lion is called "King of the Jungle," however because lions don't actually live in the jungle, it must mean "jungle" in the sense of "uncultivated land." The usual natural habitat of lions is prairies, semi-arid planes and Savannah grasslands on the continent of Africa. There are regions of tropical and sub-tropical rainforest in Africa, but lions aren't usually found there. Other members of the genus Pathera are found in jungle regions, such as tigers, leopards, and jaguars.

In the Gnostic tradition, the solar god is Yaldabaoth, the offspring of Sophia (Greek "Wisdom"). He is also called the lion-faced, Ariel "Ari (lion) +  El (God)." He is thought of as the demiurgic "creator", God, as opposed to the unknowable God. He is sometimes equated with YHWH.

    Yaldabaoth - the Lionfaced

Lion in Greek is leon λέον. If we put this word with  bab, a word meaning "gate" we get  Bab + leon, which sounds a lot like how we say Babylon. So, by this sound association the word Babylon might call to mind the lion. However, Babylon Βαβυλών, comes from the Greek rendition of the Akkadian Bab-ilani, meaning "gate of the god(s)," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary,

the Greek rendition of Akkadian Bab-ilani 'the gate of the gods,' from bab 'gate' + ilani, plural of ilu 'god'."[OE]

This name and its rendering has always been ripe with confusion. 

Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of the earth. Genesis 11:9

In the Septuagint (i.e., the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) the name of the city in Genesis 11:9 [Babel], is translated as Synchysi Σύγχυσις "Confusion," from syncheo συγχέω

meaning "confuse, confound" in Greek, rather than Babel or Babylon (which is the Greek rendering used in the Book of Revelation). However in Hebrew the word used in the passage said to mean "confuse," balal "mingle, mix, confuse, confound," is only similar to the name given to the city, i.e., Babel, and not itself the same word, regardless of what the passage seems to imply.

Bet, Bet, Lamed  //  Bet, Lamed, Lamed Genesis 11:9

In the Vulgate (the Bible translated into Latin) the name of the city is transliterated as Babel, however, balal, is translated as confusum "confounded, confused," so the similarity is lost. 

Et idcirco vocatum est nomen ejus Babel, quia ibi confusum est labium . . . Genesis 11:9

This is the same thing we get from the English translations, which gives rise to the impression that the name Babel means confusion.

It is confusing. 

And who knows? Perhaps the Hebrew passage even means that the city was called Babel, due to the confusion, or rather mixing (balal) between the words used for "God" in the name of the city, rather than because of any similarity with the Hebrew word for confusion and the name Babel. The Latin word confusum also has this meaning of "mixed, mingled" as well. What if the passage, instead, read like this?

There the LORD mixed the language of all the earth, therefore its name was called Babel . . . And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of the earth.

In Hebrew the word for God is El and Elohim (the plural is used also for the singular "God"). So instead of the city being called Bab "Gate" +  ilani "God(s)," as in Akkadian, it was called Bab + el "God."  But then that causes balal (confusion) with a Hebrew speaker, because in Hebrew the word for "gate" is shaar, which would make Babilani into Shaarel   translated rather than Babel. Perhaps we might say that it is even particularly in naming and borrowing names (rather than translating meaning), that things get most confused and confounded. What a shame! And in Hebrew the word for "name" is shem (shame). This same thing is illustrated, for example, with the name of many gods, such as Uranus, in English. Uranus is just a name without its original meaning of "sky." And unfortunately, Uranus too has become a name of shame due to the fact that is sounds like Ur (your) + anus. So too, Babel, is just a name in English without its original meaning of "Gate of God," and instead is given the name of shame, i.e., confusion.

And it is sometimes true, that in mixing languages and borrowing / sharing names, ironically, division is created because people forget that they are talking about the same things. They can be communicating and understanding each other but a lot is lost in translation. It's the confusion that isn't seen or noticed that can create division.  

Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison/W.W. Keck Observatory/NASA

We might also compare Babilani or Babylon with  Bab + Elyon. Ilani "God(s)" is similar sounding to Elyon a title given to God many times throughout the Old Testament. In Hebrew Elyon has the meaning "The Most High."

The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. 2 Samuel 22:14

And El Elyon is "God Most High,"

Then Melchizedek king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, since he was the priest of God Most High. Genesis 14:18

God (El) is the one up there, yon-der, you might even say, alien (from Latin alius, an"other"). And really what is higher than the heavens? The gods are the ELevated and ILUmined ones.

In Latin elegantem (nominative elegans) has the meaning "choice, fine, tasteful", but originally a term of reproach, elegans meaning "dainty, fastidious". Maybe it is elegans (pronounced not so much differently from elyon, especially in French), like being of the highest quality, or like the dress of the most high (elyon), a king. This is a good example of how words can be given either positive or negative connotation. For example the dress of a pope could be said to be elegans. Is the manner of dress either good or a bad thing, elegant or over the top? It is a matter of opinion.

    Pope Pius XII, reign 1939-1958 in his dress "Most High" or elegans

How did this word leon, then, which is like elyon, come to be the name of the animal? Lion comes by way of Latin and French, from the Greek leon, which is said to come from "a non-Indo-European language, perhaps Semitic." Lion has the connotation in biblical Greek of being dignified or of high quality, as in Revelation 5:5 when it speaks of "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah hath prevailed . . . " And in Greek the prefix ari- means "very" and is in words like aristos "best, brave one," so ari means "muchiness." However, in Hebrew ari אר׳ means "lion." So, perhaps the Greeks took the word meaning "most high," in Hebrew, i.e., elyon and made it the word to describe the ari (best) or most high (elyon) animal, the lion (ari). In Greek the leon is aristos (the lion is the best), and in Hebrew the ari is elyon (the lion is the most high) . . . And in Spanish El león is "The lion".

We do say that the lion is king, i.e., the most high, elyon, of the animal kingdom. Furthermore, the Ishtar gate of Babylon, which was initially known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was the main entrance to the city of Babylon. If you were walking into the city by this gate you would proceed down the Processional Way which was over a half mile long, and was adorned with flowers and 120 images of lions. The walls stood fifty feet tall on each side, rather impressive! It led to the temple of Marduk (Hebrew Merodach), Ba'al, "the Lord"(East Semetic Bel, Greek Belos, Latin Belus), the chief god of Babylon. [And it should be noted that "bel" is a word with etymological connections to "bright, light, shining one," as in Beltaine / Beltain / Beltine / Bealtaine / Bealltainn / Boaldyn, the Gaelic May Day fire festival that marks the beginning of summer to honor the god Belenus (Gaulish) / Bel / Bile (Irish) / Beli (Welsh),  the god of "light and healing."]

    Leones on the Processional Way of the Ishtar Gate, Babylon

So, imagine a person entering the city of Babylon by the main (or lion mane) gate. It is a gate with lions,  bab + leon. We might think that Babylon means "Lion Gate." And perhaps there is even a certain kind of truth in that incorrect interpretation. * The Problem With Language

Certain gods such as Ba'al "The Lord" and Moloch / Molech /  Molek, etc., from the Hebrew m-l-k root meaning "king" were given sacrifices in the burning furnace. In biblical Hebrew "hearth, altar-hearth" is ariel, so that would be, "lion of God". The opening to the fire might be thought of as representing the face of their god who was also represented at times by the bright fiery disk of the sun, whose face is like a lion with his mane; powerful and fearful. The lion is often used in connection with sun symbolism and sun gods. 


    A Lion. In Hebrew there are a few words for lion, Ari (from arah "to gather, gathered, pick, pluck"), also Arieh/Aryeh [Aramaic],  Layish (from "crusher" luwsh "kneed"), Shachal ("fierce lion" from the roar) and Kephir ("young lion")

Adonay / Adonai a name for God used in the Hebrew bible is translated as "The LORD." Adonay in Hebrew is from adon "lord, master, owner." Sometimes the Tetragrammaton, the four letter name of God, transliterated as YHWH / YHVH, is translated as "The LORD" as well, such as when the text says YHWH Elohim, it is translated as "The LORD God." Other times YHWH is translated as "God," when it is used with Adonay; Adonay YHWH "The LORD  God." 

However, YHWH is called not just, "The LORD," but he is qualified as "The LORD, the God of Abraham, the God of Issac and the God Jacob"(Ex 3:15). And we would say, also, this Lord is the God of Elijah, whose name means "Yah is my El" or "The LORD is my God." As opposed to - their - "Lord", i.e., Ba'al. (1 Kings18:20-40) [so they made a test to determine who's God was idle (didn't preform) and therefore the idol.]

Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD [YHWH] is God [Elohim], follow him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people remained silent. 1 Kings 18:21

Moloch / Molek ("king") is the god infamously known for requiring child sacrifice. If it was ever practiced as literal "passing through fire," or putting the child as a burnt offering into the fiery furnace, it is not so much different than what YHWH asked of Abraham to do to his "only begotten son," Issac on Mt. Moriah. (Genesis 22)

   Abraham prepares to Sacrifice Issac, Children's Illustrated Bible, 1994

The Lord asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac on an altar as a burnt offering. So, this is maybe what people were doing, what they thought their God wanted, the ultimate most precious sacrifice to prove their love and loyalty to him. Abraham thought his God wanted him to do this, so he was going to do it as a true sacrifice. It was very hard for him, but his LORD had asked him. What was he to do? Who can question God?

Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, "What are you making?" or "Your work has no handles"? 

Woe to him who says to a father, "What are you begetting?" or to a woman, "With what are you suffering labor pains?"

Thus says the Lord the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands? 

I made the earth, and created man upon it; it was my hands that streached out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. Isaiah 45:9-12

However, we see that after God (elohim) sees the faithfulness of Abraham that the "angel of the LORD" malak YHWH, tells him to not kill his son and provides a ram stuck in a thicket in place of Isaac.

There seems to be a lot of overlapping and possible confusion with words having do with gods and their etymological connections with words for "light, bright, shining", "lion, most high", and even the words for "word" (words being the illuminators, bringers of knowledge and light). The words may not seem connected on the surface, however, we can see how this could happen by association between cultures and languages. 

In Greek leukos is "bright, shining, white," in Latin lucere "to shine," and Welsh llug "gleam glimmer" and llygedyn "glimmer, ray, gleam" (pron. as a palital hlah-ge-den). The Welsh god Lleu (pron. hlah/hlai), is also sometimes called Llew which is Welsh for "lion." He is thought to be the counterpart of the Irish Lugh/Lug (which sounds similar to "Luke" in pron.),  Gaulish Lugus, the god "skilled in many arts," who is sometimes, either correctly or incorrectly called a sun god. Lugh was identified with Mercury / Hermes by the Romans, the god of communication. The etymology of the name is not clear, many have thought that the name was connected to words having to do with light, and therefore sun symbolism, but others say Lugh is not a sun god and therefore that etymlogy is incorrect. In that respect, Lugh would have more in common with the Greek logos "word, speech, discourse", or "reason", and legein "to say, speak " lego "I say", than leukos "bright, shining, white".  

    Apollo and the Satyrs, by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898)

Apollo (Greek Apollon) was known as Phoebus (Gk. Phoibos "bright, radiant"), Helios "sun", Phanaios "giving or bringing light," Lukeios Proto-Greek "light", and by the Romans, Sol Latin "sun". However many of the gods are described as being "shinning" even when they are not a sun god. In fact the word deity comes from the proposed PIE root *dyue- "to gleam, shine" which is also the root of words for "sky" and "day."  So the English word deity comes from the idea of the gods being gleaming or shining ones.

The word for "light" in Latin is lux, and lucere means "to shine." In Greek logos is "word, reason, thought, speech." There seems to be certain connection between the two concepts that isn't at first obvious. Jesus is said to be both the "Light of the World," and the "Word of God." 

In Genesis it states that "in the beginning" God made light (Latin lux, Greek phos).

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 

Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. Genesis 1:3

At the start of the gospel of John,  Jesus is equated with the "Word," translated from the Greek logos (it is Verbum in the Vulgate), also said of "in the beginning,"

In the begining was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the begining with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:1-5

And Jesus says of himself in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world . . ."

Church of St. Brendan the Navigator, Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, [detail of third window of north wall]

It is also interesting that the English word "lung"comes from the word "light", but it is light as in, "light in weight." Lung is from Old English lungen, with the meaning of the "light in weight organ" from PIE root *legwh - "not heavy, having little weight; easy, agile, nimble" In Latin this became levis but in Old English it is leoht, however, leoht ALSO had the meaning of light, as in "light, daylight; luminous, beautiful".

We might wonder what the connection is between "little in weight" and "bright." In the underworld of the Ancient Egyptians, called the Duat / Tuat, there was a judgment ceremony after death called the "Weighing of the Heart." If the heart was found to balance with the feather of Ma'at "truth, order, justice," upon the scales of ma'at, that is, if it was light as the feather and light like the truth, the individual was able to pass on to the Afterlife, but the one who had a "heavy" heart was devoured by Ammit ("devourer, soul-eater"), who was a female demon, part lion, hippopotamus and crocodile, known as "Devourer of the Dead", "Eater of Hearts, and "The Great Death."

    Anubis and Ammit at the Weighing of a Heart against the Feather of Maat, Papyrus of Hunefer, c. 1375 BC

We see Jesus, "the Light of the world," as making burdens light. "Light" in Greek is phos and elephros "light, easy to bear, not burdensome".

The Greek word elephas / (genitive) elephantos has the meaning of both "elephant" and "ivory." It was used by ancient Greeks, such as Homer, to refer primarily to ivory (being the part go the animal they would most usually be dealing with),

The Greek word elephas, to which certain Western languages (English, French, German) owe the etymology of their word for elephant, when first used by the Greeks themselves primarily referred to ivory, not the animal. This is Homer's use of it (also Hesiod's and Pindar's); and for a considerable time thereafter, tangible experience of the Greeks of the elephant appears to have been restricted to tusks, an item of trade long before the Greek travelers had encountered the animal who carried them.  A Note on the Etymology of "Elephant", by Merlin Peris, JSTOR

Elephas is said to "probably come from a non-Indo-European, likely via Phoenician (compare Hamitic elu 'elephant' . . . or possibly from Sanskrit ibhah 'elephant' [OE]." So the name of the animal seems to have the connotation of (ele )"ivory; elphant" +  words having to do with "light"(phaino, phos, or phantos "visible"). 

However, the Phoenician word for "god / deity," El / Il or Ilu, is itself similar to the word for ivory / elephant, so perhaps the name of the ivory is connected to the idea of deity the "shining"  one(s). The elevated ones. The leukos "bright, shining, white," like ivory.

In ancient Egyptian ab was "elephant," and in Coptic ebu "ivory", which is similar to "ivory" (ab / ebu-ory [maybe like ab + hr.w (Horus) "the distant one"]. Ab in Latin has the meaning "off, away from." Ab is also related to a name for God (El) as well, as in Ab / Abba "Father (God)" the head, and the power, Allah (from al "the" - Ilah "God", cognate with Aramaic elah). Elephant is an animal that is a beast that carries heavy burdens easily, and is a bearer of the white, bright ivory. Like the symbolism of the lion the elephant and its ivory seem to have been connected to the imagery of the shining god / divinity, the most high god.

In Hebrew "to be or become light" is or / ore meaning "shine." To become like that first light, by the Word of God. In Latin Oremus is "Let us pray." So "Be the light" with the notion of  "Be like the light of God, or "Raise yourselves to the Light" ele-phros, the Word of God, and your burdens become light (light as a feather [ma'at]?). Learn from Me!

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke (zugos, "yoke; balance, measuring scales," in Hebrew mot) upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy (chrestos) and the burden light (elephros)." Matthew 11:28-30

Jesus the Christ is the "light of God", like the Hindu, Jains, Buddhist god, Ganesha / Ganapti. Some have translated this name as "Lord of Hosts"(that would be YHWH Sabaoth in Hebrew). From Gane ("group, multitude, categorical system") + isha "lord or master" in Sanskrit, or Gana ("group") + pati ("lord, master"). He is also called the "Lord of letters and of learning," so we could connect him to Logos, and he is also said to personify the primordial sound OM or AUM, which is the Word of God.

As Vinayaka "Lord of Obstacles," Ganesha is called the remover of obstacles, or, we might say, the one who makes burdens light (elephros).

  Ganesha, Lord of the Ganas, Lord of Hosts

And in that day, says YHWH, you will call me, "My husband" (Ishi 'my man' [as in a male, not female], thus 'husband'), and no longer will you call me, "My Baal"(Baali 'my Baal', meaning 'Lord, Master')"Hosea 2:16

So it is saying they will call the Lord, their Is / Ish "man", as Eve (isa / isha "wife, woman") called Adam, her husband (man), rather than calling him "Lord, Master" specifically Baal, however Adonay and Yah both have the meaning of "Lord" as well . . .  

Well, I hope this has served to shed some light on a few things. 
Did I tell you? We are all connected.

Namaste!