The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #46: Cagayan Is A Hebrew Word
Welcome back to 100 Lies the god Culture teaches about the Philippines. Today's lie concerns Timothy Jay Schwab's claim that the Philippine place-name Cagayan is Hebrew.
This lie is taught in his videos.
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| Lost Isles of Gold LIVE Series - Part 12: Hebrew in the Philippines? |
11:00 Here is an amazing one because this name is found throughout the Philippines, Cagayan. Cagayan means Feast of Yah. Oh, what? In the Philippines? Feast of Yah? What would that have to do? How did that get here? And that's the real question. When you seek the answer to that question you'll realize it's because this is the ancient land of the Garden of Eden and the land of gold that has had a connection all along. Uh, someone will say, oh, but Cagayan you know that means, uh, that means river, right? Cagayan's River. No it isn't. No it isn't. No, no, no. Because if it was then it wouldn't be the name of some of the islands that don't have rivers. Oops. You wouldn't name an island river when it doesn't have a river, right? Okay, so you have Cagayan do Oro. Uh, you have Cagayan Sulu. You have Cagayancillo Cagayan de Oro would be would be uh Feeast of Yah with gold, right? Cagayan Sulu. Sulu is an Indian word meaning highway, right? Feast of Yah highway because it's in the middle of the Sulu sea so it's the highway in ancient times. Uh, cillo is Spanish, right? So, Cagayancillo is tithe. That's what that Spanish word means, tithe. So, tithe of the Feast of Yah. That doesn't sound like a coincidence to me and and you know these names are just too much to ignore.
Tim also makes this claim in his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure. Because his claim is very intricate I will take it apart one piece at a time.
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| The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg 197 |
Cagayan:
Hebrew: chaggayah: חגיח: Feast of Yah, a Levite. Origin of name Chaggay or Haggai the prophet. [191]
One sees this name utilized all over the Philippines in Cagayan Province in North Luzon, Cagayan de Oro and Cagayan Sulu in the Mindanao region, and Cagayancillo in Visayas. Examine the traditional etymologies on the origin of this word and there is no track whatsoever on it’s actual root. Assumptions are made without an accurate historical paradigm. The assumption that the Spanish renamed everything is already disproven and to ignore the Philippines existence of a far more sophisticated society who named their own land prior to the Spanish is to ignore even Spanish chroniclers.
Tim's source for his etymology of Cagayan is numbered 191.
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| The Search for King Solomon's Treasure, pg 374 |
Strong's numbers H2282 and H2291 are listed as his sources but his sourcebook has a completely different word, H2293.
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| Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg 205 |
This same blunder is made in his video where one Hebrew word is shown on screen while two others are referenced.
Which is it? Is Cagayan a compound word or is it a single word, the same as the Hebrew name Haggai? That Tim makes this error shows he is simply guessing and is not clear on the Hebrew at all. No wonder since Cagayan is not a Hebrew name but is a native Filipino term meaning river.
“Spanish documents in 1500s already referred to the area around Himologan as Cagayan. On January 25, 1571, the Spanish government granted this area, including what is now Northern Mindanao, as an encomienda to Juan Griego.” [192]
What is the origin of this name there and also in the other regions? There is a strong possibility, the Spanish did not name either of these areas Cagayan.
“According to Father Miguel Bernad, S.J. of Xavier University, “cagayan” comes from the Malayo-Polynesian word ag, which means “water”. Ag is present in words like agus, agusan, and kagay. Agus means “flowing water”, and agusan “place of flowing water”. Kagay means “river” and kagayan is “place with a river.” [192]
“But according to Dr. Lawrence A Reid, Professor Emeritus, Department of Linguistics, University of Hawai`i, “cagayan” comes from an ancient Philippine word *kaRayan, which means “river”. In an email sent to the Ancient Baybayin Scripts Network of Yahoogroups, Reid explained, “The evidence for the Proto-Philippine word reconstructable for river, kaRayan, comes from the Ilokano karayan, Central Agta kahayan, Itawis kayan, etc... Note that in all the languages that have a reflex of this form, it simply means ‘river’. It is not a morphologically complex form. There is no language that reflects a form kagay. Nor is there any evidence that either the final -an was a suffix, or for that matter that the initial ka- was a prefix ....” [192]
Even archaeology shows a thriving community in Cagayan de Oro in at least 350 A.D. Cagayan Province has a prehistoric history with the oldest bones of humans and animals found there. [192] Cagayan Sulu is mentioned by Pigafetta and also had a community prior to the Spanish. One scholar claims all it takes is the Malay word “ag” to determine an etymology of the word Cagayan. That’s not logic and only a tiny piece of the word. It is not that he may not have a point, it is that he would go public with an opinion of unfinished research which we review consistently from many scholars. What if the Malay word “ag’ actually originates in Cagayan instead as modern science proves that the Philippines populated the other Polynesian Islands and not the other way around. The land bridge theory has also crumbled and with it, many of their antiquated etymologies which need to be updated.
Why is Tim refuting the claim that the Spanish named any area in the Philippines Cagayan? Nobody has made this claim. Father Miguel Bernad says the name originates in the Malayo-Polynesian word "ag" which means water. He then gives several examples of words that contain "ag" and have to do with water. Tim says that is not logical but gives no reason why except to say "ag" is "only a tiny piece of the word." This is poor reasoning. Disbelief is not proof.
He then says maybe "the Malay word “ag’ actually originates in Cagayan." Well, that would require proof which Tim does not provide. Instead he claims Filipinos "populated the other Polynesian Islands and not the other way around." Ok, but "ag" is a MALAYO-Polynesian word. It seems Tim forgot the Malay part. Ancient Filipinos did not colonize Malaysia. This whole first section is full of unfounded speculation and proves Tim does not understand linguistics as he dismisses Father Bernad's arguments without actually engaging them. Never forget Tim is not a linguist nor does he care to be one.
What about the other Cagayans? Another scholar attempts to connect “karayan,” an Ilocano word, and “Cagayan.” Are they now saying Ilocanos migrated to Visayas and Mindinao prior to the Spanish? There is no history to support that and before positing such a theory would it not be wise to consider such? In other words, it only takes “ayan” to connect the words yet would not “Cag” be a different word from “kar” in any language essentially. Is this really logic? They are guessing and these are not hypotheses as that requires educated reason. Instead, we find that the Hebrew word Chaga or Chag means “feast.”
Having done battle with Father Miguel Bernad Tim now jumps into the fray against Dr. Lawerence A. Reid. Take note that Tim's source is the Cagayn de Oro City website.
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| The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg. 204 |
The link given in the sourcebook has been changed and the new page can be found here. But it is the same content as on the old web page. Both pages have a link to more about the History of Cagayan. If Tim had bothered to follow the link he would have eventually found Dr. Reid's full explanation of his etymology of Cagayan.
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| https://elson.elizaga.net/articles/meaning-of-cagayan.html |
There is nothing about Ilocanos migrating to the Visayas and Mindanao in this explanation.
He then shows the following chart.Reid says that the term for ‘river’ as used by the early migrants from Taiwan who became Filipino peoples some 4000 years ago, must have been *kaRayan. Reid states that the asterisk in front of the form is a linguistic symbol and is used to show that the form is a reconstructed word, based on the widely accepted methodology of the science of comparative-historical linguistics. He also comments that the methodology is based on the fact that all languages change from generation to generation, and that sounds change regularly over time.
What about the letter R in the middle of the word? Reid states that it stands for a sound that must have occurred in the language at that time. This is a sound that occurred in many words, and regularly developed into the sound g in the languages of the Cagayan Valley as well as Tagalog, Cebuano and the other Central Philippine languages. It developed into the sound r in Ilokano, and into y in Kapampangan and the other Central Luzon languages. Reid notes that the symbol R is used because the symbol for the actual sound was not commonly found on typewriters. Linguists suggest that the sound was what they call a velar fricative, or a fricative g, and it is symbolized in the International Phonetics Alphabet by the Greek letter, ɣ. This is a sound that is not used in most Philippine languages today, but was probably present in the first language spoken by the migrants from Taiwan, since it also occurs in the indigenous languages of Taiwan that are cousins of Philippine languages.
If only they were aware of the Hebrew associated through the sons of Eber and the alliance with Israel, many would see this as we. Yah is the name of God and even “yan” is Yah’s Grace (ין). [199]. Some say the connection between these four areas is they each have a river. What rivers are even on Cagayan Sulu? They only have lakes. What about Cagayancillo and the Cagayan Islands? Still no significant rivers. Thus, half of the references already fail to support a meaning for rivers which is a stretched etymology that does not connect from a language not even prevalent in three of the four areas until centuries later.
Incredibly two of Tim's sources for the word "Yan" are baby name dictionaries!
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| The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Sourcebook, pg 206 |
This is not the first time he has used a baby name dictionary as a source. He also used one when interpreting the Book of Jubilees.
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| https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-god-culture-timothy-jay-schwab-uses.html |
And he has the nerve to call actual linguists uneducated???
Tim is insistent in both his videos and books that Cagayan cannot mean rivers because some places are named Cagayan that do not have "significant rivers." There could be a number of reasons why places are named Cagayan that do not have rivers. Has Tim bothered to research when and why these places were named Cagayan? He says they do not have "significant rivers" but does that mean they have no rivers?
Really the question why a place without rivers is named Cagayan is a red herring Tim us using to distract the reader and listener. Here are some questions for him: Why is there no place called Cagayan in Israel if it is indeed a Hebrew phrase proper for a place name? Why do the two words "Chaga" and "yan" or "yah" never appear together in the scriptures? In his sourcebook Tim links the word "Yan" to Strong's H2605.
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| https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2605/kjv/wlc/0-1/ |
But that word is NOT Yan. It's Hanan! In Tim's etymology that would render as Cagahanan which is not Cagayan. Now, Tim has four different Hebrew words, H2282, H2291, H2293, and H2605, to account for his alleged etymology of Cagayan. He is clearly making things up.
Here is Tim's final proof for Cagayan being a Hebrew word. No surprise it's all pure speculation.
In fact, in Cagayan Province, the people were already referred to as Cagayanos or Cagayanes when the Spanish arrived. Cagayan appears to us based on this evidence, to be of Hebrew ancestry. This is why the word is all over the archipelago because the Feast of Yah mattered all over. How can one think that the Queen of Sheba brought back nothing from Israel in way of answers of God if nothing else? Did the Wise Men just take some gifts there and visit the Son of God and just take selfies and leave as if they were on a pleasure cruise? It is far more likely they brought texts of scripture and great knowledge upon their return that they would have disseminated to the people all over the land of Ophir, Sheba and Tarshish.
Actually, the three Cagayan’s in Visayas and Mindanao appear to serve a greater purpose as Cagayan de Oro is on the East border of the Garden of Eden. De Oro is said to refer in Spanish to “of gold” and thus Cagayan assumed river. However, Oros is the Greek word for “mountain” and the gold is in the mountains. [193] Cagayan Sulu is on the Southern border of the Garden. The word Sulu in Akkadian (Phoenician, spoken by Hiram, Solomon’s Admiral) is “highway” and the sea was certainly the highway for Solomon’s navy. [194] Cagayancillo is on the Northern border of the Garden. “Cilla” is Spanish for “tithe barn, granary, tithe.” [195] This is a rather odd circumstance rendering the meaning Tithe of the Feast of Yah. We believe Cagayan is Hebrew in origin as it makes far greater sense than the attempt to connect rivers which are not there in half the areas and we see no support to assume an Ilocono origin of the names of three places in Visayas and Mindanao. Cagayan is far better rendered in Hebrew as “Feast of YAH” than contrived etymologies which have no real basis. As the Philippines is the Land of Creation thus the very region of the first Feasts, of all places on earth, Biblical feasts should be observed there and this will be restored
Not only is Cagayan Hebrew but some of the places named Cagayan have other non-Filipino words attached to them. Ancient Filipinos knew Akkadian and Greek.
As for Cillo meaning tithe, that is all wrong. Cagayancillo means "little Cagayan" as -cillo is a suffix meaning small.
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| https://spanish.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/using-the-diminutive-suffix-illo-cillo-ecillo-ececillo |
In Spanish we use the suffixes -illo, -cillo or -ecillo after a noun or adjective for two purposes: to qualify it as smaller (diminutive) or to talk about it in an affectionate way.
Why would the Spanish call these small islands Cagayan Tithe? They wouldn't. That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's not some kind of "odd circumstance" that cilla is the Spanish word for "tithe." It's not something to make you go hmmm. It's simply Tim's horrible linguistic and research methods on display as he conflates a word with a suffix. Cilla is not -cillo. He does not give a flip about the truth.
Tim has not proved a single thing except he is a poor researcher and he is not a linguist. He has not bothered to understand Dr. Reid's etymology of Cagayan and is quick to dismiss him as being uneducated. He has done no actual etymology in this section of his book. Instead he is reaching very far to prove his thesis that the Philippines is The Garden of Eden, Ophir, Tarshish, and Sheba, and that Filipinos are Hebrews by saying it must make sense that there are Hebrew words in the Philippine language.
The fact is Cagayan is not a Hebrew word meaning "feast of yah." Tim cannot even get his etymology correct as his sourcebook and the main book have different Hebrew word sources! He even uses a baby name dictionary which is not something a real linguist would ever do. That Cagayan is a Hebrew word is simply one more lie being taught about the Philippines by Timothy Jay Schwab who is The God Culture.
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