The original and ultimate “four-letter word’ was and is YHWH; the unspoken name of the Jewish god revealed to Moses at Mount Horeb, according to Exodus 3:13-15.In Koine Greek, YHWH was described as the tetragrammaton. In that Biblical translation language, “tetra” means four, and grammaton is derived from the word “gramma” or “grammat” which means letter. So, the term literally means “the four-letter word,” or “that which has four letters.”Speaking the god’s name was considered dangerous and could invoke a curse, so it is quite interesting that in English, the term “four-letter word” has come to mean “foul or abusive language.”Also intriguing, is that ancient Egyptians are said to have taunted the Jews and Samaritans claiming that they had adopted the Egyptian God of Chaos, Seth, as their god. It was even rumoured that when the Seleucids entered the Holy of Holies of the Second Jewish Temple during the Maccabean Revolt, they discovered a statue of an ass-headed god.Seth (also known as Set, Suetekh, Setekh, or Setesh) was often depicted as having the head of a donkey and was an evil god responsible for war, chaos, mayhem, storms, deserts, and earthquakes. The name Satan is also thought to derive from the name Set.
