Pathfinder 2E Paizo drops use of the word phylactery

[Sepulchrave II]

This guy, makes it extremely clear, in quite amusing way why Paizo dropping this word from D&D really doesn’t improve the overall happiness in the world. Only a minute long but makes the point far more eloquently than I can.


In essence (for those who can’t abide videos in forums) the speaker (Jeremy Shuback, a Jewish animator exploring Judaism) says that Tefillin are Tefillin. The internet and the dictionary seems to suggest to the world that Tefillin are also called phylacteries but he makes it clear that no one who was ever actually wearing a Tefillin would ever call it a phylactery. There aren’t two equally good words for the object, they’re just called Tefillin so stop calling them phylacteries.

Yehudah Cohn is a research associate at NYU who based his work on his Oxford doctoral thesis and who specializes in the early development of Jewish ritual practice and its connection to Graeco-Roman magic. He explains why the relationship between the words tefillin and phylactery is more complicated than it appears at first blush - it's not a case of simple translation.

 

[Staffan]

Yeah; looking at how Level Up 5e handles the names and does exactly that, it seems strange to me Paizo didn't do that when they changed 'Paladin' to 'Champion'. Especially since Barbarian and Monk have much more name issues than 'Paladin' (Paladin isn't accurate and is a very specific word, but it also refers to something from a Western culture that had the word fall into disuse iirc).

"Paladin" wasn't changed because of cultural issues. Rather, the issue was that there was a conflict between "all gods should have champions" and "paladins are traditionally champions of law and good". So the solution was to make the class named Champion, and Paladin being the term for specifically Lawful Good Champions, joined by Neutral Good Redeemers and Chaotic Good Liberators (and later by their evil counterparts).

 

[VelvetViolet]

We should be using “horcrux”. It may be a recent invention (which is irrelevant imo but whatever), but it doesn’t have pre-existing linguistic baggage, already has the desired meaning, and is free to use because words cannot be copyrighted. I see it used in Nos4a2 and some original fiction on google books.

And speaking of name changes, I’d love if we stopped calling them liches—because that’s the original English word for corpse and still exists in compounds like lichyard, lich house, lich owl, the real city of Lichfield (also read Clark Ashton Smith for copious examples of ye olden usage, there’s a searchable database of his stories)—and started calling them afgorkons, elder liches (aka ancient dead), koschies, and voldemorts, among other possible names. This would free up the original English word lich for use in other death-related contexts—e.g. “zombie” comes from the African diaspora and is therefore anachronistic for use in not!European fantasy.

Not that I expect most people to care. Such is life.

 

[Umbran]

This idea isn't necessarily common anywhere, notably outside of the US where there is a very specific view on religions.

Mod Note:
This is far out beyond our no-politics, no real-world religion line.

Folks, bring it back in please. Thanks.

 

[Umbran]

(for those of you who can't abide reading books)

Mod Note:

This? This is not the way to handle a contentious discussion. The snark virtually guarantees that folks who don't already agree with you aren't going to accept your arguments.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Apologies. Snark removed.

 

[Baba]

Yehudah Cohn is a research associate at NYU who based his work on his Oxford doctoral thesis and who specializes in the early development of Jewish ritual practice and its connection to Graeco-Roman magic. He explains why the relationship between the words tefillin and phylactery is more complicated than it appears at first blush - it's not a case of simple translation.

View attachment 146232

It seems to me that Shuback claims that:
1 "tefillin" is the best term to use when talking about tefillin, and
2 "phylactery" comes from an ancient greek term for magical amulets, and is not the best term to use when talking about tefillin

I have not read "Tangled up in text", but I read this article by the same author on the same subject. The Origins of Tefillin - TheTorah.com

He calls tefillin "tefillin" throughout the text, and only mentions the word "phylakteria" once, calling it a "greek word for protective amulets".

It seems to me like Cohn claims that:
1 Tefillin originated as magical amulets, in an ancient mediterranean world where all cultures used magical amulets
2 Christian sources would therefore use the same term ("phylakteria") for these amulets as for other amulets

So it does not seem to me like Shuback and Cohn would disagree, at least based on this article? Except, perhaps, that Shuback goes a bit far in claiming they are two different things?

"Tefillin" is the most precise term for tefillin, and so Cohn uses that exclusively in the article.

A "phylactery" is a magical amulet. Tefillin were originally viewed as a kind of magical amulet.

I am by no means an expert, that's just the impression I get from reading this article, and all of this is, of course, simplified.

I don't really have a view on what word Paizo should use in regard to liches, but overall I think we can get a bit overeager in condemning word use.

 

[LongTimeLurker]

Mod Note:
Please review EN World's Terms and rules. Specifically, our inclusivity policy. Pejorative use of terms or dogwhistles (like how you use "woke" above) is not acceptable.

If you have some problem with this, please take it to PM with a member of the moderation staff, and they'll discuss it with you further.

sorry bro, my bad. Would PROBLEMATIC be a better substitute?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

sorry bro, my bad. Would PROBLEMATIC be a better substitute?

Mod Note:

The other moderator told you to take it to PMs. You did not.

 

[Green Onceler]

It must be somewhat exasperating for Paizo that the most online buzz they've managed to generate since the release of PF2 is from this change in terminology. Nobody ever wants to discuss their recent Adventure Paths in such depth. Or at all, it seems.