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In my latest blog post, The Origins of Baphomet, I speculate on the origins of the name Baphomet. Some of what I have to say may prove controversial...

i highly doubt that Bafometz could be a misspronounciation of Muhammed. The people were quite knowlegeble of Arabik, it was n t a barbaric tonge, after all, it was the language into which much Plato, Aristoteles and other titans of philosophy and alchemy were preserverd.

If you take Bafometh and aplly the ATBASH kabbalistic code, you get the word SOPHIA, Wisdom. I see not record of that in your research, have you taken it into account?

Very informative asnd interesting, though, thans for sharing.
Asterion.

I've heard the Baphomet as Corruption of Mahomet thing before. Also interesting to me is the phonetic similarity between Baphomet and Behemoth.

Oops just read the post and it's in there.

Funny you should relate him to Ganesha, I once saw a picture of each side by side and was struck by the similarity of the pose in that particular depiction. Of course I thought nothing of it.

@Asterion: I tend to agree, I wouldn't expect Mohammed to be corrupted to 'Bafometz' either, which is why I think Bahumed and Bahamut names are so interesting. Arabic as you say was not a barbaric tongue. The problem it seems lies not with Arabic but with the troubadours and the Provençal dialect. There seem to be many poems from this era that use the 'Bafometz' name such as this one by Gavaudan:

Profeta sera.n Gavaudas
qu.el dig er faitz, e mortz als cas!
e Dieus er honratz e servitz
on Bafometz era grazitz.

Gavaudan shall be a prophet
for his words shall become a fact. Death to those dogs!
God shall be honoured and worshipped
where (Mahomet?/Bahamut?/Bahumed?) is now served

Now the translation quoted on wikipedia says Mahomet, but how do we know this is what Gavaudan meant? Maybe he was deliberately making the name sound more like Bahamut or Bahumed in order to make it sound more demonic. Fundamentalists calling for holy war are not above deliberate lies like this, and often call those of other faiths worshippers of 'Satan' or some other devilish name. This seems more likely to me. Bafometz may well have become the name given to Mohammed by Catholic fundamentalists rallying crusades.

@Elystan: I thought the Hippo/Elephant correspondences were worth mentioning, especially in light of the story about Ganesha getting his head from 'an elephant headed monster'. Strange that this was specifically stated and not just an elephant, given that Behemoth was often described this way in various folklore, and depicted in this way in later grimoires.

indeed, Bafometz in this instance sounds more like a pagan idol than the prophet of IslAM. Even most ignorant people knew that Muhammad was not worshipped by Islam. i find Levi s rendering to be more imaginative and allegorical than historically accurate, and possibly have nothing to do with the cult of Behumot Bafomet Bafomets itself, should one haveexisted.

From the more than 360 gods of pre islamic times of Mecca, i would nt be suprised to find, among Allat, Uzza and the like, our misterious Bafomet...

The second instalment of my Baphomet series is probably less controversial, dealing with the mysteries of the goat.

Not sure if there were any lower percentage of ignorant people in Europe than there are now with regards Islam. In any case a fanatic Catholic troubadour trying to drum up a crusade is likely to be as deliberately twisting of the truth as a modern day tabloid trying to incite war in the middle east...