I do not want to spend days simply copying and pasting paragraphs from Wikipedia, and for reasons which will be shown later, I do not agree with everything their definitions claim. That said, I felt that it would be best, as a starting point, to quote a few basic paragraphs from them in order to build some context to what follows later.

"Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans make and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Phoneticians - linguists who specialize in phonetics - study the physical properties of speech. Etymology is the study of the history of words. By extension, the phrase "the etymology of [a word]" means the origin of a particular word. For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts, and texts about the language, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form, or when and how they entered the language."

"Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a "sacred artifact" that is venerated and blessed), or places ("sacred ground").

French sociologist Émile Durkheim considered the dichotomy between the sacred and the profane to be the central characteristic of religion: "religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden." In Durkheim's theory, the sacred represents the interests of the group, especially unity, which are embodied in sacred group symbols, or totems. The profane, on the other hand, involve mundane individual concerns."

"The word sacred descends from the Latin sacer, referring to that which is 'consecrated, dedicated' or 'purified' to the gods or anything in their power, as well as to sacerdotes."

The Etymology of the Word Holy

"The English word holy dates back to at least the 11th century with the Old English word hālig, an adjective derived from hāl ('whole'), which was used to mean 'uninjured, sound, healthy, entire, complete'. The Scottish hale ('health, happiness, wholeness') is the most complete modern form of this Old English root. The word holy in its modern form appears in Wycliffe's Bible of 1382. In non-specialist contexts, the term holy is used in a more general way, to refer to someone or something that is associated with a divine power, such as water used for baptism."

"Although there are similarities between the terms sacred and holy, which are also sometimes used interchangeably, there are subtle differences. Holiness is generally the term used in relation to persons and relationship, whereas sacredness is used in relation to objects, places, or happenings. Thus, a saint may be considered as holy, but would not be viewed as sacred. Conversely, some things can be both holy and sacred, such as the Holy Bible

While both words denote something or someone set apart to the worship of God and therefore worthy of respect and in some cases veneration, holy implies an inherent or essential character. Holiness originates in God and is communicated to things, places, times, and persons engaged in His Service. Thus Thomas Aquinas defines holiness as that virtue by which a man's mind applies itself and all its acts to God; he ranks it among the infused moral virtues, and identifies it with the virtue of religion, but with this difference that, whereas religion is the virtue whereby one offers God due service in the things which pertain to the Divine service, holiness is the virtue by which one makes all one's acts subservient to God. Thus holiness or sanctity is the outcome of sanctification, that Divine act by which God freely justifies a person, and by which He has claimed them for His own."

Neither of the terms Sacred or Holy simply find their origins in the Latin term sacer or the Old English terms halig or hal. Old English (date-able to the fifth through 11th centuries AD) and Latin (the earliest version of which dates to no earlier than the seventh century BC), while both being archaic in their own rights, are hardly source languages for either term's origins. For example, for the Old English phrase Hal to equate to the earliest version of the term Holy, those same Old English peoples would have had to have been completely ignorant of the fact that the Kelts to their north, east, south and west had already created a culture called the Hallstatt Culture some 1,700 years earlier which had predominated throughout much of Europe for over 400 years. We are expected to likewise assume that those same Old English peoples were completely ignorant of Greek culture and traditions as well. Any inflection of the terms Halig or Hal being the original source code for the term Holy is easily dismissed by the fact that the far older Greek term Helios is, in basic phonetics as well as meaning, a far more accurate source for the term Holy. In fact, if one were to remove the -os suffix from the name of the Greek deity Helios, one would arrive at Heli, which easily reveals that the term Holy is sourced from the Greek term Heli, which in turn refers to the Sun.

The Sun was revered in many ancient religions as the divine entity directly involved in the salvation of humanity, such as the Semitic Egyptian Aten; the Greek Helios; and the Roman Sol Invictus (274-387 AD). The Hebrew King Solomon's name likewise beholds a reference to the Sun. Many of these Solar religions overtly died out after a relatively brief period, but elements of these Solar cults were intertwined into other religious benefactors. In the case of Helius, he is described as the Titan god of the Sun, and it is written that once his son Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the sun, but he lost control and set the earth ablaze, to which Zeus reacted by striking the boy down with a thunderbolt[1]. There are several interesting things at play in the previous sentence: Helios is a Titan; Zeus used a thunderbolt to strike down Helios' son; and to the ancient Greeks, it is Zeus, not Helios, who is truly the ultimate savior of the Earth and humankind. While these things may not seem significant at this time, in relation to the word Sacred, they are quite significant.

While the origin of the term Holy can be somewhat easily realized, the term Sacred is a bit more tacit, and far-more profound. Since the previous paragraph speaks of Zeus, I thought that Zeus would be a good topic at this point in order to move us forward. The term Zeus is itself derived from the proto-Indo-European term djous, meaning sky. The Romans regarded Jupiter as the equivalent of the Greek deity Zeus, the latter of which being created by the merging of two words - Djous Pater - which translates to Sky Father. This can be witnessed in the fact that, as the largest planet in our solar system, the planet Jupiter is considered to be the father of the other planets. So whereas the Romans added the term Pater to the term Djous, the Greeks did not see a need to do so since in ancient Greek, the term Zeus already implied the paternal attribute to Zeus. This is significant once the origin and proper meaning of the term Pater becomes known[2].

In Greek tradition, Zeus conceived a son named Zagreus, whom Zeus intended to make his heir and bestow on him unlimited power. Out of jealousy, Hera urged the Titans to kill Zagreus. While Hera enamored Zagreus with toys, the Titans, who were opposed to Zeus’ power, tore Zagreus to pieces and consumed his corpse except for his heart. Athena rescued the heart of Zagreus and took it to Zeus, who consumed it. Zeus then begot a son in the body of Semele, and this child, made from the heart of Zagreus, was called Dionysus.

Just as the ancient Romans equated Jupiter with the Greek Zeus, likewise the ancient Greeks equated Dionysus with the Egyptian Osiris[3]. Before going any further, I would first like to summarize the previous up to this point. Zeus equates to Jupiter (djous Pater) as the Sky Father, and Dionysus equates to Osiris as the Holy Ghost. What does that have to do with the origins of the term Sacred? If the answer to that question is not already apparent, it will be revealed in no uncertain terms shortly.

Christianity revels in the marvel of the Holy Trinity - the father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In Greek, such equates to Zeus as the Father; his Son Zagreus, who is slain and thereafter called Dionysus. In Egyptian, this trinity was known as the tri-form deity Ptah-Seker-Osiris. What follows are some facts to prove such. Ptah is the creator deity of ancient Egypt. In fact, the term Egypt means "House of Ptah". It is from his name that the terms Paternal, Pater, Peter and Father derive. Both Zagreus and Osiris were murdered and dismembered, and through divine posthumous intervention, both were resurrected. Between Zeus and Dionysus, the common link is Zagreus -the divine Son who was conceived to reign over humanity. In the midst of the tri-form deity of ancient Egypt Between Ptah and Osiris, the common link is Seker.

The term Zagreus is obviously a Greek term: the use of a suffix formed by a vowel (U) followed by an S avars such. As such, if one were to remove the -us suffix from the term Zagreus, one would find the root of the name of the Son of Zeus is in fact Zagre. In Greek, as in many ancient dialects, the letters k, c, ch and g are often interchanged to denote the k phonetic sound. This is witnessed, for example, in the Greek word for Grace (Charis). In Greek, the Egyptian term Seker has two alternate translations: Socharis and Sokaris. Again, when the -is suffix is removed from the Sochar/Sokar base, we find in the root Zagre (Zakre), the phonetic link to Sochar/Sokar: Seker. As for the S and the Z, it is easily realized that when translated from Egyptian, both the letters S and Z are readily interchangeable since in Ancient Egyptian both were signified by the same hieroglyph.

The main road of ancient Rome is known as the Via Sacra (Avenue Sacred), which meanders past all of the religious sites of ancient Rome. Here the term Sacred is translated to Sacra. Note the phonetic equivalent of Sacra and Zagre (SKR).

In ancient Egypt, there is an area called Sakkara which serves the same basic purpose as the Roman Via Sacra. Sakkara is named after the Egyptian deity Seker.

In ancient Babylon, man-made structures similar to pyramids are known as Ziggurats. In ancient Sumer-Babylon, the first ruler (Sargon I) was known as the Sakhar Lord.

In southern France, the mount where the Cathars and Knights Templar built a stronghold and which was said to house the Holy Grail was known as Montsegur. The Arthurian writer Wolfram Von Eschenbach called Montsegur Montsalvaesch - the Mount of Salvation upon which the Grail Castle was said to have once stood. Once again, in the term Montsegur, once the word Mont (for mount) is removed, we find the word Segur, which Arthurian tradition equates to Salvation, and which is phonetically equivalent to Seker.

In the Levant, the hill upon which the Old Testament Second Temple was constructed, and upon which the Muslim Dome of the Rock now stands, is likewise assimilated to the term Seker. In Arabic, the name for the Dome of the Rock translates to Qubbat al-Sakhra - the 'Arabic' term Sakhra translating to the English term Rock, This rock, in Judaism, is believed to be the rock upon which Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac. In Islam, it is believed that it is from this Rock that Mohammad began his midnight journey to heaven where he met with the prophets and saw God. In the case of the Arabic term for this specific Rock, we again find an assimilation with the phonetic SKR root.

In Christianity, Peter is said to be the Rock upon which the Christian Church was to be created as well as the Father of the Catholic Church. In the New Testament Jesus declares, "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it," (Matt. 16:18). Of course, Peter equates to Ptah the creator deity of ancient Egypt. That said, it is of no small significance that the Judaeo-Christian Peter (Ptah) equates to the Muslim-Arabic Sakhra (Seker).

The New testament begins with an interesting course of events regarding the priesthood of Israel. It is recorded that during the time that the priest Zechariah was presiding over the Temple rites, the archangel Gabriel came to him to announce that his wife Elizabeth would bear a child. That child was John the Baptist, who was born at the Summer Solstice, meaning that his conception would have occurred some nine months earlier at the Autumn Equinox - that is, at the time his father Zechariah presided over the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement.

Zechariah lamented that, being elder in age, he was concerned regarding having offspring to carry on his legacy. Being a descendant of Aaron (the brother of Moses), this was a significant issue, as his lineage was lineally entitled to the station of High Priesthood, which meant that in order for the nation of Israel to emerge once again from the ashes of its former self, the lineage of the priesthood would need to remain uncorrupted - albeit in absentia once Herod imposed rabbinical predominance over the priesthood. More on the circumstances of the New testament times can be found elsewhere[]: for now we are interested in tracing the origin of the term Sacred.

The name Zechariah consists of the suffix Iah attached to the root Zechar. In Hebrew it is claimed that the name Zechariah means "Iah Remembers", based upon the two words Iah (Yahweh) and Zechar (Zakar or Zeker). Note the Ch and K interchange, as well as the vowels interchanging. However, the supposed definition listed in Hebrew for the term Zechariah bears improper context: to signify Iah Remembers, it would be far-more accurate to use terminology along the line of Iahzechar (Iah Remembers). Instead we have the phrase Zechariah, which more-fittingly equates to "Remember Iah". In Greek, Zechariah is written as Zacharias, which likewise indicates that the true root of the word is in fact Zechar, not Iah, and thus the Iah in Zechariah is merely a suffix: had Iah been the root of the term Zechariah, the Greeks would not have changed the term to Zecharias but rather would have added the vowel-s to the end of Zechariah to form something along the line of Zechariahus.

In Hebrew, the term Zeker is said to define memory, record and remember. However, it is not the only word used in Hebrew to define such. Further, in earliest Hebrew it is recorded as ZKR, without vowels. The reason for such is apparent once proper context is added to the time leading up to its integration into Hebrew. Delving back into the Old testament time of Moses, a few things should be noted:

Moses was placed in an ark and set upon the Nile by his mother, and came to rest in the marshes of Egypt.

Moses' brother was Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel.

Moses was brought up in Egyptian royalty, meaning that he would have had access to some degree to the hidden teachings of Egypt which were not known by the common masses.

While at the Burning Bush, Moses meets with the God of his ancestors, who spoke to him (Exodus 3:15) “And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my Zeker (memorial-name) unto all generations.” Note that God does not specify his name as being YHWH, Iah or Yahweh or any other such term, with the exception of his supposed memorial-name... Zeker.

On the night of Passover (the Spring Equinox), the first-born sons of Egypt were killed. When Pharaoh found that his son was dead, he placed his son's corpse in the arms of the Egyptian deity Seker (whom he addressed as Sokar) and called on Seker/Sokar to resurrect him, to no avail... which corresponds with Ecclesiastes 9:5 "...but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for their zeker (memory) is forgotten."

The reason why the Hebrews did not fully understand the term zeker is due in large part to ignorance. In ancient Egypt, the deity known as Seker was revered throughout the ages prior to, during and after the Old Testament Exodus took place. Seker was the Egyptian deity of resurrection, and while he is largely considered a mortuary deity today, their is plenty of evidence to suggest that resurrection was just one aspect of his true significance. He is likewise known as the opener of gates, he who presides over the Lake of Fire, and whom guards the doors to the tomb of Osiris. Seker also had his own Solar Boat - the Henu Barque. The term barque equates to ba-rque: Spirit (ba) Ark (arque).

It is said in Egyptian hieroglyphs that all the records of Egyptian antiquity dating back thousands of years can be found under the Sphinx in a chamber known as the Hall of Seker. Thus, the Hall of Seker equates to the Hall of Records. Thus it would have been known in Egypt during the time of Moses, that the Hall of Seker was synonymous with the place where the records and memories of ancient Egypt were stored dating back to Zep-Tepi (the Egyptian First Time), and as such, the term Seker could have easily been mistakenly used to denote words related to records and memories in ignorance. The Hebrew scribes transliterated the term Zeker into the Hebrew language, but either did not know - or chose to hide - the true significance or context of the term Zeker.

Looking back at the usage of the term Zeker in the Old Testament paragraphs previously mentioned, when one contrasts the Hebrew definition of the term zeker with the corrected definition provided above, it is evident that the integration of the term zeker into the Hebrew language was done based in ignorance. In Exodus 3:15, God uses the terminology Zeker to indicate that the nobility was to pass through the lineage of Moses. Note the term and separating the past-tense from the present-future tense: "and this (the lineage of Moses) is my Zeker (consecrated sovereign) unto all generations" implying generations to come. After all, what is the point of implying a memorial name if no name was presented in the conversation? And when applied to Ecclesiastes 9:5 the verse reads "...but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for their zeker (consecrated sovereign) is forgotten." To forget the sanctity of God's chosen is to curse one's self with all aspects of physical and spiritual poverty. Thus, the John (the Baptist) gesture, denoting "Remember" (Zeker - as in his acknowledging the fact that he, like his father, is a Zechariah of the lineage of Aaron/Orion/Osiris).

The Report of Wenamun was written during the latter part of the 11th century B.C. in the Phoenician city of Byblos, which was ruled by a king title-named Zeker-Baal at the time. It is interesting to note that Wenamun refers to Zeker-Baal as The Zeker on two occasions in the report, which reveals that the term Zeker is not merely his name, but his title:

Chapter 28: "And I went by myself to the shore of the Sea to the place where the lumber was stacked up. And I looked at 11 vessels; they had come in from the Sea and they belonged to the Zeker..."

Chapter 31: "And when morning came, he had his assembly called together. And when he stood in their midst, he said to the Zeker: 'How about your journey?'

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Zechariah's wife was Elizabeth, whose name breaks down to Lady (El) Isis (Isa) of the House (Beth). Elizabeth embodied the season in which she conceived the Baptist: Autumn.

Zechariah was a descendant of the first High Priest of Israel - Aaron. Aaron equates to Orion, whom in turn equates to Osiris.
Mary and Zechariah

The John gesture

My memorial unto all generations

Holy Grail Cup of the Sun and Sacred Heart

Zechariah Elisabeth

Peter the Roc - Seker the Rock

[1] For more on Helios and his son Phaethon see this page.

[2] For more on Jupiter (Djous Pater), see this page.

[3] For more on Dionysus and Osiris, see this page.

An interesting side-note, is that Solar religions always seemed to have died out after a relatively brief period. Further, Helius is described as the Titan god of the Sun, and it is written that once his son Phaethon tried to drive the chariot of the sun, but he lost control and set the earth ablaze, to which Zeus reacted by striking the boy down with a thunderbolt. There are several interesting things at play in the previous sentences: Helios is a Titan, his son's name carries the phonetics of the Egyptian Ptah suffixed by -on, and ultimately it shows that to the ancient Greeks, it is Zeus, not Helios, who is truly the ultimate savior of the Earth. In Egyptian tradition, Ptah's consort Hathor took on her vengeful aspect Sekhmet (whom likewise symbolizes the Sun), and sought to destroy mankind on behalf of Ra, but alarmed at how viciously efficient she was at doing so, Ra calmed her by getting her drunk on blood-colored beer out of pity for mankind.

The Etymology of the Word Holy