Aren’t they all proper nouns and therefore supposed to not need the definite article?

  • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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    23 hours ago

    They are titles not phrases, its correct grammar. Specifically, nouns that are names of places, titles, or something of the sort it helps to clarify that we are talking about The captain and not just a captain in general. Or we are going to The Mall (which probably translates colloquially to the one the speaker frequents) and not just any mall in general.

  • davel@lemmy.ml
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    22 hours ago

    The devil’s name isn’t “Devil.” it’s Satan or Lucifer or Beelzebub, etc. The Pope’s name isn’t “Pope.” It’s Leo XIV or Robert Francis Prevos.

    • Pennywise@quokk.au
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      20 hours ago

      I’m pretty sure they’re all distinct entities. There’s a whole Pantheon of demons, devils, and so forth. Lucifer took a third of the Angels with Her.

      • ferric_carcinization@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        Preface: I’m not a christian. And, of the religion teachers I’ve had, at least one had certain *ehum* interesting interpretations about the books, so my understanding of the lore may contain a bit of non-canon fanfiction. (I’m not from a very religious area, but she was a bit weird)

        If I’ve understood correctly, “the devil” is more of a title, but not exactly? At least, “devil” should only refer to a single character at a time, and it should be obvious which one.
        But, there are many demons. Still, if it’s common to refer to a certain demon, or if it’s apparent from the context, “the demon” could be fine, even if “demon” is very generic. If I tell my friends “You can’t believe what the idiot did this time.”, they know what I’m talking about, even though there are lots of idiots out there.

        with Her

        Is “her” the correct pronoun? A lot of art depicts Lucifer as pretty masculine, so perhaps “he”? Though, I’d probably use the neutral “they”.
        I’m not sure if this is from the official canon, but one religion teacher taught that angels were genderless, and the “weird” one taught that they were both male and female, possessing the parts from both sexes at the same time.

        Angels have been depicted in many ways, but I think that I like the weird teacher’s futanari version the most.

        • Pennywise@quokk.au
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          17 hours ago

          You like chicks with dicks. Cool. Me too! Balls or no balls, though? Personally I prefer futa without the balls. Anyways… Back to your question.

          The Bible doesn’t actually introduce a character named “Lucifer” as the Devil. The name comes from the Latin translation of the Hebrew “hêlēl ben šāḥar”, roughly “shining one, son of dawn.” Lucifer in Latin. The identification of this figure with Satan/Devils developed much later in Christian interpretation.

          Is her not the correct pronoun? It’s a fictional, mythical creature. Like a futa! If I want to draw a sexy feminine Lucifer, than yes. That’s her pronoun. Maybe she even has a dick. :)

          Note: I am a scholar and I’m not religious.

      • davel@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        Sort of. Whether they’re distinct or synonymous varies by religion.

  • YaksPT@sh.itjust.works
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    23 hours ago

    In Portuguese you put the equivalent of 'the" in front of people’s names. (A Michelle or O Robert)

    • Makr Alland@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      In some Catalan dialects you use a special determinate article just for people (en Robert, na Michelle), one for “common” things there could be many of (sa house, es car) and a third for things there’s only one of (el Pope, la Reina).

      Languages are fun!

      • YaksPT@sh.itjust.works
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        22 hours ago

        Not when you are a monolingual American living in Portugal trying to learn Portuguese. Lol

        • pmtriste@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          Portuguese is pretty tough. I just completed my B2 level class and I still can barely understand more than 40% of what Portuguese people say to me, and that’s coming from a background of also having taken other languages in American high school. I have since determined that what we learned probably wasn’t very functional, and much was probably just wrong, but we only had to pass tests, not actually understand a native speaker.

  • FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website
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    21 hours ago

    Technically, “the Holy Spirit” isn’t a proper noun. That’s because it contains an adjective also. Personally, I wouldn’t capitalize any of those terms. The head of the Catholic church only really when talking about it as a title in front of the assumed name, Pope Leo. Somebody’s style guide may have them capitalize all nouns with religious notoriety. That’s a style choice then rather than grammatical necessity.

    Also, grammar is the attempt at formulating rules about how people talk. Meaning the talking came first and then somebody tried to codify it. That means there is virtually no grammar rule that doesn’t come with at least one exception. Learning when to use an article or not, when it should be the indefinite or the definite one, is killing students who come from languages that don’t use articles at all. And in some cases also those who speak other article-infested languages. That’s because it doesn’t make any sense and you had to grow up being corrected by other speakers to get this mostly right. It is convention more than clean cut rules.