• daisy lazarus@lemmy.world
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      9 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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        9 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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          9 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@sh.itjust.works
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          9 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.