COMPLETELY off topic!

[blpurdom]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "catlady_de_los_angeles" <catlady at w...> 
wrote:
> The word 'Islam': everyone has been told that it 
> means 'submission' (to God) and that the reflexive noun form, 
> Muslim, means 'one who submits' (to God's will), also translated 
> as 'slave'. [snip]  I suddenly noticed for the first time 
> that 'Islam' and 'salaam' have the same three consonant root, SLM. 
> Everyone has been told that 'salaam' means 'peace' and is cognate 
> to 'shalom'. 
> 
> Some years ago I went to a lecture on Ishtar, and the lecturer 
> said that one of Her titles is Shulamittu, which is same word as 
> the Hebrew name Shulamit [Shlum't] (Babylonian is a Semitic 
> language) which is the feminine of Solomon [Shlomo] which we have 
> all been told means 'peacemaker', and very reasonable it is for a 
> king who takes the throne after winning a civil war to assume a 
> throne name meaning 'peacemaker'.  [snip again]
> 
> Except, said the lecturer, that the word 'shalom' which we 
> translate 'peace' really is more closely related to meanings 
> like 'contentment' and 'satifaction' ('equilibrium', he said, but 
> I don't understand that at all). And Shulamittu, 'the satisfier', 
> as a title of Ishtar had, he said, an explicitly sexual meaning. 
> Ishtar is a very sexual goddess, but she *satisfies* by giving 
> food and by giving victory as well as by sex...

I highly recommend that you (and everyone on the planet, for that 
matter) read "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins.  There is a lot 
of material about the history of the Middle East, including a some 
etymology of place names and history of various deities worshipped 
in the area.  Robbins really did his research, and it's a hilarious 
book as well.  Sounds like you'd really enjoy it.  It's one of those 
books that has me both laughing out loud constantly and incredibly 
impressed at the intricate plot and extensive research.

--Barb

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