July 11, 2003

• Father, Son,
  and Holy Coast

  
  

  Here are some religious meditations for the holy day 7-11:

  
  

  

  
  

  As the website Hollywood Jesus perceptively points out, defending the story theory of truth, “Images that carry universal truths move us from the mundane to the sacred.  Jesus knew this when he spoke in parables.”

  
  

  Here is a parable about my own name.

  
  

  The Hollywood Jesus site tries to connect the cross of Christ, “holy wood,” with Hollywood by claiming that the words “holly” and “holy” are cognate.

  
  

  See Hollywood and the Cross.

  
  

  From the Online Etymology Dictionary: 

  
  

  holly – O.E. holegn, from P.Gmc. *khuli-.

  
  

  holy – O.E. halig “holy,” from P.Gmc. *khailagas. Adopted at conversion for L. sanctus. Primary meaning may have been “that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated,” which would connect it with O.E. hal (see whole).

  
  

  This shows that the holly-holy connection is, pace Neil Diamond, like nearly every other Christian claim, a damned lie.

  
  

  

  
  

  Connoisseurs of junk culture may enjoy
  a midi of Neil Diamond as background
  for this Hollywood Jesus.

  
  

  Here is a different Hollywood etymology that may be somewhat truer.

  
  

  From the RootsWeb.com archives:

  
  

  Re: CULLINANE-HOLLYWOOD-holly tree
  

  
  

  “Cullen in Irish is Ó Cuillin (holly tree). …  This astonishingly simple name has worked its way through an astonishing number of variations including Cullion, Culhoun, MacCullen and Cullinane. …

  
  

  In a message dated 6/5/01 8:24:18 PM Pacific Daylight Time, lawlerc@aol.comnojunk writes:
  
  ‘I do not have the surname in my family, but while looking at the Old Age Pension applications for the Barony of Strabane Upper, in the County of Tyrone, there was a notation that

  
  

  the English equivalent of the surname CULLINANE is HOLLYWOOD.‘ “
  
  

  • 10:23 pm
  • 1 Comment