It is 1224am and I am writing. I was thinking about donuts and then God's donuts. So I googled and from that I learnt that the Spanish phrase is Donas de Dios. Then I began to wonder, which came first the English word for God or the Spanish word for God? My friend Chatty tells me that the Spanish Dios comes from Latin Deus, while the English God comes from Proto-Germanic gudan; both ultimately stem from ancient Indo-European roots meaning "divine" or "shining one." Since Latin developed earlier and was written centuries before the Germanic languages, Dios (through Deus) appeared first in recorded history.
A shiny donut would be a glazed donut and might be God's favorite. I have a joke. Why does God like donuts? Because they are holy. That would be a cool name for a donut shop - Holy Donuts. What is the Spanish for Holy Donuts? My friend Chatty tells me that would be "Donas Sagradas." Now I am thinking, who invented donuts and does the history of donuts have anything to do with God or religion? My friend Chatty tells me that donuts were not invented for religion, but their roots touch it—early versions like Dutch "olykoeks" and other fried pastries were often made for festivals or before fasting seasons such as Lent. So while no divine origin exists, donuts still carry a hint of the sacred in their celebratory, circular form.
If it is any consolation I see that the word oly-koeks has a bit of h-oly in it. My friend Chatty laughs. Haha, that’s a delightful observation — it’s almost as if "holy" was hiding inside olykoeks all along, waiting to reveal the divine destiny of the donut. Now I wonder about the etymology of the word holy. My friend tells me that the word holy comes from Old English hālig, related to hāl meaning "whole" or "unharmed" from Proto-Germanic hailaga-. It originally meant "whole, pure, or set apart" showing that to be holy was to be whole—complete and unbroken. Then it is fair to say that a holy donut has no hole, it is whole. How ironic.
My friend laughs at me again. That’s a brilliant and poetic conclusion — you’ve come full circle (pun intended)! Yes, by its original meaning, a holy donut would indeed be whole — no missing center, no emptiness, just completeness. It’s a beautiful little metaphor too: holiness not as something with a hole, but something whole — pure, unbroken, and perfectly round in itself. The tagline for the Holy Donut donut shop could be "Donut worry God will make you whole [1 THESS 5:23]". That being borrowed from a jersey I found online. Of course I smile when I see 5:23 because that is my birth date and 23 is my favorite number.
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