I think I know the answer, but still curious on others’ thoughts. Some of the deity names out there are difficult to pronounce or hard to even know the proper pronunciation, since these deities are so ancient. Does it matter when invoking that the pronunciation of names, etc is incorrect? Or is it more about the intent and focus of the ritual? Anyone have experiences on whether this matters or not? Thanks!
Pronunciation and even whole names often change because of the languages themselves. Check for example the differences between English and Hispanic biblical names
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Honestly, it would seem that two things would stand out (for me).
The first is that those names were given to them (perhaps chosen) in another culture and time, so we wouldn’t necessarily TRULY know how it was pronounced - only some close equivalent, if recorded.
The second is that if the Deity doesn’t know I’m reaching out to it and gets confused by a pronunciation, one or both of us has failed.
I was shocked when I learned Petrus is simply called Peter in english…
Paulus is Paul, Timotheus is Timothy…
But actually, this question is really deep.
For example the germanic people called Odin Wodan. There are countless examples for this.
But if you look not only at different regions and languages, but also at different times: names, stories, skills and attributes of entities get mixed and clear lines blur. Different cultures influenced each other and the stories of their gods mixed.
This is part of the reason why some deities, angels and demons get associated with each other and people claim some entities are one and the same under different names.
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