The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

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God
Chapter 6 - Peculiarities of Masonic Language
The essential abbreviation in Masonry certainly is the letter "G.," meaning
"God" in English, "géométrie, gnose, génération, génie, gravitation" in French,
and "Gott" in German. The other denomination of the Lord is "G.A.O.T.U." in
English, which means "Great, or Grand, Architect of the Universe." The French
brethren write "G.A.D.U." for "Grand Architecte de l'Univers," and the German
Masons use the abbreviation "A.B.a.W." for "Allmächtiger Baumeister aller
Welten" or A.B.d.W., "Allmächtiger Baumeister der Welt." The Latin expression
for God is "U.T.O.S.A.," which means "Universi terrarum orbis summus
architectus." There further exist abbreviations for the less common synonyms for
God, such as G∴G∴, meaning "Grand Geometrician." 1034
In lodge correspondence and on documents, one often finds the phrase
"T∴T∴G∴O∴T∴G∴A∴O∴T∴U∴," denoting "to the glory of the Great
Architect of the Universe," which correspondingly is in French
"A∴L∴G∴D∴G∴A∴D∴L'U∴," 1035 the short form of "à la Gloire du Grand
Architecte de l'Univers," and in German "I∴V∴d∴A∴B∴a∴W∴," which
means "in Verehrung des Allmächtigen Baumeisters aller Welten." 1036 In Latin,
this would be "A∴U∴T∴O∴S∴A∴G∴," which is "Ad universi terrarum orbis
summi Architecti gloriam." This formula is used at the head of the documents of
the Ancient and Accepted Rite. 1037
Rites and Bodies
The uncountable abbreviations for Masonic rites appear confusing. Since we
have used them already throughout this paper, we will only give one of the most
common and short forms in three languages:
English: A.&A.S.R. = Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite
German: A∴u∴A∴S∴R∴ = Alter und Angenommener Schot-
tischer Ritus;
French: R∴E∴A∴et A∴ = Rite Écossais Ancient et Accepté.
As to Masonic bodies, a look at the homepages of international Grand
Lodges in the Internet will place us before the problem of resolving an incredible
number of abbreviations. We will exemplify this with regard to one country.
With respect to French lodges, there are, among others, the GLFN (Grande Loge
1034 Ibid, p. 5.
1035 Cf. GHCDF, p. 70.
1036 Cf. IFL, p. 3 and 5.
1037 Cf. GHCDF, p. 70.