It’s really quite surprisingly how many names in the UK and US top 100 have Pagan roots when you start to dig below the surface.
Take Genesis, currently ranked 89th in America.
Most of its use is no doubt Christian, an adoption of the name of the first book of the Bible, a name which was first applied to the Vulgate — the Latin translation of the Hebrew Bible commissioned in the fourth century when Christianity was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire.
In Hebrew, it was known as Bere’šyt meaning “in (the) beginning” — the opening words of the book.
The Greek genesis was chosen for the translation.
It’s a noun which comes from the verb gignomai meaning “to come into a being,” and thus “to be born,” “to begin” and “to become.”
Thus in its most basic sense, genesis means “origin” and “source” as well as “beginning.”
It carried a number of other senses such as “race,” “descent,” “generation,” and “age.”
It also meant “birth,” and was used in astrological language to mean “(birth-calculated) horoscope” and, by extension “lot” and “fortune” too.
Later, it passed into Latin with similar meanings, and also came to be used of a person’s natal-star.
Genesis also features as an element in a number of compound words.
One of my favorites has to be parthenogenesis, which combines it with the Greek parthenos “maiden.” This is a biological term used of reproduction from a gamete without fertilization, a process which occurs mostly in invertibrates and some plants.
Even the Oxford English Dictionary makes reference to one of this word’s most famous outings — in the 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man.
It gets its mention when Edward Woodward is paying Lord Sumerisle a visit at his stately pile and witnesses the village girls conducting a Pagan ritual at the stone circle in the hope of experiencing parthenogenesis for themselves.
Needless to say, Edward isn’t impressed.
Genesis is also a close relation through the Greek and its Latin cognates of many other words relating to birth, beginnings and descent, such as “genes,” “genetics,” “generation,” “generate,” “genus,” “genuine,” “general,” “generous,” “generic,” “genial,” “genius,” “gender” … the list goes on and on.
Not to mention quite a cool rock band.
It has also featured in the title of many a book or comic, film or TV show.
My favorite has to be Doctor Who’s Genesis of the Daleks.
Related elements can be found in other names too, such as Eugene.
So you see, there’s a great deal more to Genesis than just the title of a book of the Bible — with plenty to please a Pagan. :)
