• daisy lazarus@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    phylactery

    “A small leather box containing Hebrew texts on vellum, worn by Jewish men at morning prayer as a reminder to keep the law.”

    That phylactery?

    • TheMongoose@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      More likely the D&D/fantasy version. Harry Potter called them “horcruxes”. Keep your soul in a box and whatever happens to your body, you can’t truly die.

      But I didn’t know they were based on Jewish mythology, so thanks for that TIL!

      • WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I’m not sure that the phylactery in D&D is based on Jewish practices. The word comes from Latin and referred to something sacred/guarded and could be a place or even an amulet.

        The term is being used appropriately in D&D and Jewish peoples also use it for their beliefs. Another guy posted he might stop using it because of the Jewish connotations, which that’s totally up to them but I don’t think it’s exclusive.

        Then again, perhaps Latin created a word from seeing Jewish practices. I don’t know. I’m just a dude on the internet.

      • eestileib
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        10 months ago

        Ditto, I had no idea. I knew them as the thing you had to find to defeat a lich in D&D.

        Sounds like it’s an insensitive term so I’ll try to stop using it that way.

        • SheeEttin@programming.dev
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          10 months ago

          It’s not insensitive. It’s from Greek:

          First recorded 1350-400; from Late Latin phylactērium, from Greek phylaktérion “outpost, safeguard, amulet”