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Where did the name Golgotha come from?

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by tinytim, Aug 19, 2006.

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  1. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    I heard a preacher speculate that the name Golgotha (the place of the skull) was where David took the head of Goliath and hang it for all Jerusalem to see... since Golgotha and Goliath seem like they could have came from the same root word.

    Has anyone done word studies on the name golgotha?
    Why does the Hebrew word for place of the skull sound so close to Goliath, and was the place called Golgotha before david and goliath?
     
    #1 tinytim, Aug 19, 2006
  2. blackbird

    blackbird Active Member

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    A careful look at ISamuel 17 tells the simple story

    Dust flyin' everywhere

    Sword severs Goliath's head

    Goliath's head taken to Jerusalem

    Abner presents David to Saul with said head in hand

    There was never a question as to who the head belonged to---no doubt--it belonged to Goliath----the buzzards were gathering around the rest of the body

    But the quesiton always remained on Saul's mind----"Who is that boy who killed that man???"

    "Jesse's boy, David, Sir!! Jesse, the Bethlehamite!!! David's just as good on a Harp as he is with that sling as you will find out!!!"

    I have heard said that the Jews called Calvary---"The Place of the Skull"---because of the idea that from a distance--at the right angle---Calvary's hill resembled a man's skull.
     
    #2 blackbird, Aug 20, 2006
  3. saturneptune

    saturneptune New Member

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    Really like the way you tell that story. I'll bet the Sunday School class I try to teach would also. By the way, where in Mississippi do you pastor?
     
    #3 saturneptune, Aug 20, 2006
  4. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    That was great the way you summarized it.

    I guess what I am asking is why are the words "Goliath" and "Golgotha" so similar?

    There is a field of study that studies word root origens, (I can't think of the name for it) and I wonder which word came first, goliath, or golgotha.
     
    #4 tinytim, Aug 20, 2006
  5. npetreley

    npetreley New Member

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    I don't think they're similar. Why do you think they are?
     
    #5 npetreley, Aug 20, 2006
  6. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    "GOL" "TH" "A"

    I heard a preacher preach this about 7 yrs ago and it just stuck in my head...

    I understand "golgotha" means the place of the skull, but why did it come to mean this... why does this word sound like it does? How did Golgotha get it's name... i too understand from a distance it looks like a skull. But why does it sound the way it does?

    Someone in the past had to first say "golgatha" how did they come up with that group of letters, and sounds to represent a place that looks like a skull?

    could it have been derived from the skull of Goliath that hung in Jerusalem?? I know this sounds far fetched and in the big scheme of things, it doesn't mean a thing.

    I am just curious because I heard it preached once.
    It was probably some fruitcake who preached it anyway, but it was so strange, it stuck.
     
    #6 tinytim, Aug 20, 2006
  7. mnw

    mnw New Member

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    Is Etymology the field of study to which you refer?


    (edited to avoid looking like a dope... but that may be too late)
     
    #7 mnw, Aug 20, 2006
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 20, 2006
  8. npetreley

    npetreley New Member

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    I think it's etymology.
     
    #8 npetreley, Aug 20, 2006
  9. mnw

    mnw New Member

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    There does not seem to be a direct link to Goliath and Golgotha. Any likeness I think is lost once you leave the English spellings.

    It interested me to see the link, though, between Calvary and Golgotha. The Greek word Golgotha seems to be derived from a Chaldee word for “skull”, gul-go-leth (gulgoleth). From there the hill with the appearance of a skull it seems came to the name Golgotha. Most likely it was warped as it went from the Chaldee/Hebrew to the Greek. Similar to English words warping into American…

    What interested me was that “Calvary” is the Latin for Golgotha. The Latin word Calvary comes from the Greek word kranion which means skull. Kind of looks like cranium…

    Easton sums it up well: “Calvary is the Latin name Calvaria, which was used as a translation of the Greek word Kranion, by which the Hebrew word Gulgoleth was interpreted, “the place of a skull.””

    Golgotha/Calvary simply seem to denote the appearance of a not so grassy knoll outside the gate.

    It seems the word is not linked to Goliath in an etymological way, but certainly is linked by circumstances.

    Why did I enjoy looking up the Greek/Hebrew/Latin in all of this? Is that normal? Especially at 23:00pm after two sermons…
     
    #9 mnw, Aug 20, 2006
  10. mnw

    mnw New Member

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    Thanks. :) That's the word my brain thought but not the word my fingers typed...
    I can't believe I put that! It's late and I'm tired. :sleep:
     
    #10 mnw, Aug 20, 2006
  11. tinytim

    tinytim <img src =/tim2.jpg>

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    Thank you mnw.. that answers the question.
    so it it etymology

    I know any word that ends in "ology" means "the study of"

    Biology- study of life
    Theology - study of God
    eschatology - study of last things


    Does that mean the Doxology is the study of doxen?

    OK, corny joke alert!!
     
    #11 tinytim, Aug 20, 2006
  12. rsr

    rsr <b> 7,000 posts club</b>
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    One should always be careful in assuming words are related because they have a similar form. Golgotha is apparently from the Hebrew through Aramaic; Goliath may have been imported from a non-Semitic language, which would make sense if you believe that the Philistines were non-Semitic.

    As to hanging the head ... Well, maybe. But Saul was fighting the Philistines, not the Jebusites, and it would have made more sense to send it to Gath or some other Philistine city, not to the Jebusites.
     
    #12 rsr, Aug 20, 2006
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