The Origin and Implications of OLB "PREST"

[Herr der Heere]

Servus, Männer.

In the days of ancient Germanic societies, a priest was called a "gudja" or something similar thereto. To prove it, proofs may be provided. In Gothic, a priest was called a "gudja". In Ancient Nordic, the word was "gudija", which later became Old Norse "guþi". And, most important of all, a priest in Old English culture was called a "gydda". The reason I stress this last one is due to the fact that Old English is the closest related language to Old Frisian. Thus you would expect the Old Frisian OLB to have a word like *GYDDA or *GJDDA meaning priest. Instead, it has PREST.
PREST does not have its root in Germanic culture, but rather in Hebrew culture.
In c. 250 BC, Ptolomy II requested every book to be translated into Greek in order to be enrolled into the Library of Alexandria. He had an especial interest in the Hebrew Pentateuch, and so commissioned it to be translated by 72 Hebrew scholars. That they might translate the Hebrew word "זָקֵן (tzaqen)", which meant "elder" or "alderman", they used the Greek word "πρεσβύτερος (presbýteros)" which meant "old". Thus, in that Hellenic-Hebrew society, the elders were called "presbyters", a custom which persists among the Christians even to this day.
The Christians of the West—i.e. Catholics—originally used the word "presbyter" in Latin. However, after saying it often, the word was slurred into "prester". "Prester" is actually the proper Old Frisian word for priest—see also modern Frisian "pryster"—and its meaning came from Vulgar Latin. It was the English language which originally dropped the final "er". This lack of "er" in "PREST" in OLB Frisian implies an English influence, as other Frisians said "prester", and this fact can also tell us its dating, and what its motivations were.
The oldest known acts of Christianization in Friesland were the conversions under Saint Willibrord and Saint Boniface, who were both Englishmen. The first of the two was Willibrord, who started evangelizing in Friesland in the 690s. We have no texts from WIllibrord, and none by Boniface in Frisian. It can be assumed, however, that when talking to the heathen Frisians—who most likely used "gydda"—they used the Old English "prēost/prest". Assuming that nobody altered the OLB between Liko Oera-Linda and Hidde Oera-Linda, this provides the terminus ad quem of the text as AD 803. Thus, with the terminus post quem of the AD 690s, the timeframe for the OLB's creation can be deduced to be AD 690-803, most likely by different authors by judging the contents of the book.
The OLB throughout is highly critical of the PRESTERA (priests). In fact, they seem to be its main theme. It talks endlessly about how the priests have distorted Frya's way on earth, and how the priests have distorted the folk's soul for the greed of filthy lucre. It seems here that the authors of the OLB had a particular message to tell, by not stating the native "gothar" to be in the wrong, but rather the foreign "priests". It seems also [see 199/25 to 200/9] that the authors had a particular hatred towards the priests of Phoenicia—i.e. Canaan and Edom, whence the "Rabbis" and the "Kohanim" of modern Judaism come.
If anyone wishes to posit another theory, it must first pass through these three criteria before being sufficient. (1) Why is it PREST and not GYDDA/GJDDA? (2) Why is it PREST and not PRESTER? (3) Why is PREST associated with Phoenicia, and not Friesland?

TL;DR. The OLB word "PREST" tells us that the book was written between AD 690 and AD 803, and that the foreign (Jewish?) priests are not as worthy as native *GYDDUM/*GJDDUM, so far as the OLB goes.

[Helgiteut]

The OLB throughout is highly critical of the PRESTERA (priests). In fact, they seem to be its main theme. It talks endlessly about how the priests have distorted Frya's way on earth, and how the priests have distorted the folk's soul for the greed of filthy lucre. It seems here that the authors of the OLB had a particular message to tell, by not stating the native "gothar" to be in the wrong, but rather the foreign "priests". It seems also [see 199/25 to 200/9] that the authors had a particular hatred towards the priests of Phoenicia—i.e. Canaan and Edom, whence the "Rabbis" and the "Kohanim" of modern Judaism come.
If anyone wishes to posit another theory, it must first pass through these three criteria before being sufficient. (1) Why is it PREST and not GYDDA/GJDDA? (2) Why is it PREST and not PRESTER? (3) Why is PREST associated with Phoenicia, and not Friesland?

TL;DR. The OLB word "PREST" tells us that the book was written between AD 690 and AD 803, and that the foreign (Jewish?) priests are not as worthy as native *GYDDUM/*GJDDUM, so far as the OLB goes.

I don't know if Judaism should be directly connected to Phoenicia. The "missionary priests of Sidon" is where the Druids came from, but the nature of Finda's priests seemed to be theocratic. All Hebrew recorded history after King Saul, is non-theocratic state(s).Not to mention that Judaism is never mentioned as being a missionary religion other than in Khazaria. (As far as we know)
I would however like to make a list of "Latinate/Romance" words in Fryas-speech, because words such as SCRIVE for writing are assumed to be of Romance origin.

[ott]

you would expect the Old Frisian OLB to have a word like *GYDDA or *GJDDA meaning priest. Instead, it has PREST.
(...)
This lack of "er" in "PREST" in OLB Frisian implies an English influence (...)

These are the varieties of the discussed word in Oera Linda, with the number of times they were used:



Another word used for 'priests' was GODIS SKALKA or GOD.IS.SKALKUM, translated as 'God’s servants' (chapters 13f and 16e). Note that the author stresses the fact that these priests used this word and not the Fryas themselves:

these vain, false men, who allow themselves to be called God’s servants or priests

As soon as deceivers arose among our half-sisters and half-brothers, who presented themselves as God’s servants, things changed at once.

This compound word may later have been shortened as 'Godis or 'Godi' (the 'o' being pronounced as in English 'good').

The Fryas had no priests or priestesses and would not have used the term GODE or GODA (adjective/noun derived from GOD) themselves in this context, for that would imply that these were 'good' people (or 'of God').

The beginning of a word study has been added to the OL wiki which has just opened: https://wiki.oeralinda.org/view/PRESTER

I will also answer more elaborately later.

[Herr der Heere]

The whole time, the word was PRESTER?
I have studied the OLB throughout, examining its language. Through all of this, I believed that the word was PREST. Before writing this, I checked, I double-checked, I even triple-checked the word—even its inflections. I went through the whole OLB throughout to see if there were any "gydda" therein, and there were none. But the moment I publish something regarding PREST, the word somehow changes to PRESTER. I go through my OLB copy, and its PRESTER. I go through various versions, and its PRESTER. I search everywhere; its PRESTER—everywhere, except for my notes, which still say PREST. Suddenly, also, sections explaining "gydda" show up, where I searched diligently to find them.
It was at this very moment I realized that the world is a play, we are the actors, and Wralda is the director... also that the genre is comedy... Honestly, if the universe itself plays these cosmic jokes on me one more time, I'll just publish information about cooking instead. Hopefully "crust" won't become "cruster" there.

[Helgiteut]

The whole time, the word was PRESTER?
I have studied the OLB throughout, examining its language. Through all of this, I believed that the word was PREST. Before writing this, I checked, I double-checked, I even triple-checked the word—even its inflections. I went through the whole OLB throughout to see if there were any "gydda" therein, and there were none. But the moment I publish something regarding PREST, the word somehow changes to PRESTER. I go through my OLB copy, and its PRESTER. I go through various versions, and its PRESTER. I search everywhere; its PRESTER—everywhere, except for my notes, which still say PREST. Suddenly, also, sections explaining "gydda" show up, where I searched diligently to find them.
It was at this very moment I realized that the world is a play, we are the actors, and Wralda is the director... also that the genre is comedy... Honestly, if the universe itself plays these cosmic jokes on me one more time, I'll just publish information about cooking instead. Hopefully "crust" won't become "cruster" there.

I wouldn't mind a Fryas cookbook one day . But please Heere, we all learn here from each other. I hope to hear all that you have found in your studies.

[Nordic]

I checked the 1876 online version and the latest Ott version and the shorter form (prest) is not present in either of them. I think it's easy to see how the error could have come to be, as the word is the shorter form in some Germanic languages (priest, präst). Furthermore the exact same psychological process has previously happened also to this author, based no doubt to a remark in one's own mind instead of remark in the original source text (unless we assume Mandela effect, an update in the simulation matrix or some sort of learning God kind of situation).

Traditional Germanic and Nordic titles for ruling class chieftains, temple-priests and judges include also:

• díar, understood in Bock family saga as 'drinker' from Swedish di 'suckle' (see also here)

• drótt, related to Swedish drots and Finnish ruhtinas 'prince' (in OL MS 059 DROCHTENA)

• höfðingi 'head-man' and höfundr 'judge' (the most famous of which is Höfund of Grund and Ódainsakr i.e. Väinämöinen of Pohja and Odenma, the same character archetype as Magus in some OL chapters).

The Christianisation of the Frisians is an interesting chronological question. In the immediate vicinity were the Britons who apparently were Christians before the later Anglo-Saxon(-Frisian) invasion. I wonder if that left any traces in likes of Frisian traditions or some other coastal Germanic traditions? In Briton-English-Norman traditions even Norse and Finns had to submit to Arthur's rule.