Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/407

aOATSUCKER 343 GOD lines, but less distinct. It feeds on the wood of willows, poplars, and oaks, sometimes perforating the wood in all directions. GOATSUCKER, one of the English names of a remarkable migratory bird, Caprimulgus europseus. The erroneous belief that it sucks goats seems to have arisen among the goatherds in ancient Greece, who called it aigotheles, from aix (genit. aigos) =a goat, and thele — the nipple; and the Romans, falling into the same error, denominated it capri- mulgus. GrOBBE, or VOANDZOU {Voandzeia, subterranea) , a leguminous annual of tropical Africa, sub-order Csesalpinese, of which the young pod is thrust into the ground in the same manner as that of Arachis hypogxa (the ground bean), thus at once protecting and planting the seeds. The rich, oily seeds (Angola peas) are wholesome and agreeable when boiled. The young pods also are used like French beans. GOBELIN (gob-Ian'), a family of French tapestiy-makers and dyers who became famous for the exquisite tapes- tries they manufactured. They were descended from Jean Gobelin, who founded the establishment in Paris and died in 1476. About 1667 the manu- factory was turned into a royal estab- lishment under Louis XIV. The factory still produces the finest tapestry in the world. GOBI (go'be), DESERT OF, the Shamo or "sand-sea" of the Chinese, an immense tract of desert country, occupy- ing nearly the center of the high table- land of eastern Asia, between lat. 35° and 45° N., and Ion. 90° and 110° E., and extending over a large portion of Mon- golia and Chinese Turkestan. Its length is probably about 1,800 miles; mean breadth, between 350 and 400 miles; area, 300,000 square miles. Its general elevation is over 4,000 feet above sea- level. The East Gobi is occupied by dif- ferent tribes of the Mongolian race, who have numerous herds of camels, horses, and sheep. In the West Gobi are some nomadic tribes of the Tartar race. This tract is supposed at one time to have been a great inland sea. In 1917, motor car service was inaugurated to carry freight across the desert between Kaljan and Urgi. GOBIID-ffi (go'bi-i-de) , or GOBIOID^ (-oi'de), in ichthyology, gobies, a family of Acanthopteri veri. The edges of the operculum are unarmed, and its aperture small; the ventral fins, whether united or separated, constitute a funnel, and are situated on the breast; the skin is either naked or armed with large finely ctenoid scales. Most of them are small fishes, found among rocks or in tidal rivers. GOBONATED, in heraldry, an epithet applied to a border, pale, bend, or other charge divided into equal parts forming squares, gobbets, or checkers. Called also gobond, or gobony. GOD, the Supreme Being. The form god is used for any superior or imagin- ary being, constituting an object of wor- ship; or for (1) an emperor, king, or any other person, yielding great and despotic power; (2) any person or thing greatly idolized. Ethnic Religions. — Whether any sav- age tribes exist with no belief in any being higher than man is doubtful. Lub- bock thus arranges the first great stages in religious thought: Atheism, under- standing by this term, not a denial of the existence of a Deity, but an absence of any definite ideas on the subject. Fetichism, the stage in which man sup- poses he can force the Deity to comply with his desires. Nature-worship, or totemism, in which natural objects, trees, lakes, stones, animals, etc., are wor- shiped. Shamanism, in which the superior deities are far more powerful than man, and of a different nature. Their place of abode also is far away, and accessible only to Shamans. Idola- try or anthropomorphism in which the gods take still more completely the nature of men, being, however, more powerful. They are still amenable to persuasion; they are a part of nature, and not creatures. They are represented by images or idols. In the next stage the Deity is regarded as the author, not merely a part of nature. He becomes for the first time a really supernatural being. The last stage is that in which morality is associated with religion. Judaism. — Two leading names for the Supreme Being continually occur in the Hebrew Bible; the one generic, the other specific. The generic term is El, or Eloah, both singular, and Elohim (q. v.) plural, the specific one is Yehovah, in general written Jehovah (q. v.). It is of the first that God is the appropriate rendering. El, Eloah, and Elohim signify Deity in general. Elohim is much more common than the singular forms. Among the epithets or titles used of God in the Old Testament are Most High (Gen. xiv: 18, etc.). Mighty (Neh. ix: 32), Holy (Josh, xxiv: 19), Merciful (Deut. iv: 31), God of Heaven (Ezra i: 2), God of Israel, etc. (Exod. xxiv: 10). Anthropomorphic language occurs chiefly, though not exclusively, in the