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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A Tentative Philological Typology of Some African High Deities
Author:Dammann, E.
Year:1969
Periodical:Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:2
Issue:2
Pages:81-95
Language:English
Geographic terms:Subsaharan Africa
Africa
Subjects:African religions
deities
Religion and Witchcraft
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1594904
Abstract:After defining the terms High Deity and High God and observing six distinctions concerning the names of the High God, some of these names are examined in order to demonstrate their meaning. The examples mentioned illustrate the importance of the sky and its functions, such as sun or rain, for the naming of the High God. Another complex is in this regard one containing everything that is related to the ancestors or to the place where they are. With some peoples in Africa the High God has taken his name from the eternal element in man which continues to exist after his death, or from the habitations of these so-called spirits of the dead. Attention is drawn to the great number of foreign names. It is impossible to describe the nature of the High God by means of etymology. There is a tendency to move the High God into the sky, even if this original place was the underworld. Notes.
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