[1314] Mordmann, Himyarische Inschriften; Mordmann and Müller, Sabäische Denkmäler; Barton, Semitic Origins, p. 127 ff.
[1315] His original seat is uncertain; by some scholars he is regarded as an old North Semitic deity, but the grounds for this view are not convincing. The occurrences of the name outside of the Hebrew region throw little or no light on his origin. Cf. Delitzsch, Paradies; Baudissin, Studien sur semitischen Religionsgeschichte; Barton, Semitic Origins, chap. vii.
[1316] On his position in the seventh century cf. W. F. Bade, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1908.
[1317] For the Old Testament statements see C. G. Montefiore, Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews (Hibbert Lectures, 1892), Index, s.v. Yahweh.
[1318] He was thus supreme for the particular tribe, though not universal; cf. article "Arabs (Ancient)" in Hastings, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics.
[1319] Farnell, Cults of the Greek States; Gruppe, Griechische Mythologie; articles on the various deities in Roscher's Lexikon.
[1320] Formally the names Dyaus, Zeus, and Ju (in Jupiter) are identical; and to these may probably be added the Teutonic Tiu (Tyr).
[1321] In early thought the sky (like the earth) is in itself a powerful thing, a personality, and the god who is later supposed to inhabit and control it is a definite figure, like, for example, a tree-god.
[1322] From the ancient notices of Kronos it is hardly possible to fix definitely the relation between him and Zeus. It is probable that he represents an older cult that was largely displaced by that of Zeus. The custom of human sacrifice in his cult led to the identification of him with the Phœnician (Carthaginian) Melek (Moloch), and his name has been interpreted (from κραίνω) as meaning 'king' (= melek); but this resemblance does not prove a Semitic origin for him. Whether his rôle as king of the Age of Gold was anything more than a late construction is not clear.
[1323] The etymology of his name is doubtful.