Talk:Names of the Holocaust
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[edit] Dark animal
About this bit of text near the top of the page:
In Greek and Roman pagan rites, gods of the earth and underworld received dark animals, which were offered by night and burnt in full. Holocaust was later used to refer to a sacrifice Jews were required to make by the Torah.
What is a "dark animal"?
Also, the phrasing suggests that the Roman rites predated the Jewish ones. I'm guessing what is meant here is that the word "holocaust" was used in English (and maybe Latin and/or Greek?) to refer to the Jewish sacrifice ritual, which if I have it right, is called olah in Hebrew. In other words, the Jewish "olah" predates the Roman, and maybe the Greek "holocaust" rituals, but the word "holocaust" only later became used to refer to olah, right?
Perhaps this could be written more clearly? Pfly 05:38, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
- It means dark in colour. I'm not sure what you mean when you say that the text implies that "Roman rites preceded the Jewish ones". It means that the Greek term "holocaust" was later used to refer to sacrifice described in the Torah. Whether or not that predates "Roman" practices depends on when you date the Torah and how you define the origin of Roman culture, which arose from earlier Indo-European traditions. Paul B 11:48, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
