Albanian and Turkish in the Greek alphabet

Quotations are from Wikipedia, "Greek alphabet".

Diacritics (dots, for the most part) may not be displayed correctly: they should be aligned with the middle, not with the right side of a letter.

"Tosk Albanian was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500. The printing press at Moschopolis published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the Monastir conference standardized a Latin orthography for both Tosk and Gheg. Greek spelling is still occasionally used for the local Albanian dialects (Arvanitika) in Greece."

There were so many variants in these alphabets, and I am not sure about which variants go together, so I will not list the characters alphabetically, but rather by groups of letters in the modern Albanian alphabet (sources: 1, 2, 3).

a e u : α ε ο ου
ë : α̩ / ε̲
i : ι / η
o : ο / ω
y : υ / ιου

Canaanite names of the planets

A problem with ascertaining the Canaanite names of the planets is that the linguistic situation of the Canaanite peoples was quite complex: except for the survival of Punic (late Phoenician) in Carthage in North Africa, Canaanite languages were gradually replaced as spoken languages by Aramaic from the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BCE), although some remained in use as liturgical and literary languages (best documented in the case of Hebrew, which continued to be in some use even as a spoken language up until the modern revival). Biblical Aramaic is considered to be descended from the Imperial (Old) Aramaic of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (550-330 BCE). Later Western Aramaic languages or dialects of the region include Samaritan Aramaic, Galilaean Aramaic and Jewish and Christian Palestinian Aramaic. Later, Greek and Roman rule led to many (educated) people becoming bilingual in Aramaic and Greek.

Ugaritic is (a dialect of) the ancestor of Phoenician.

As a result, Aramaic-speakers of the region had a large variety of planetary names to choose from, namely the ancestral Canaanite ones (and Canaanite neologisms!), the Akkadian names that came with imperial rule and influence, first of Assyria, then of the Persians, either in their original form or as they were "translated" into local divine names, those specific to the Aramaic language they shared with the people surrounding them, and finally Greek. This allowed people to differentiate shades of meaning in a way difficult to imagine today and made the choice of one word over another highly dependent on context.

Arabic names of the planets

Sun
شَمْس ‎(šams) f: pre-Islamic Arabic, from common Semitic *śamš-
Moon
قَمَر ‎(qamar) m: pre-Islamic Arabic, not shared with any other Semitic languages (except where it was adopted from Arabic)

Mercury
عُطَارِد (ʿuṭārid) m: pre-Islamic Arabic, of unclear origin
† الكَاتِب (al-kātib) m: literally "scribe", a variant name in the medieval Islamic West (Andalusia and Maghreb), from traditional Babylonian-Hellenistic associations of the mercurial god with writing
Venus
الزُّهَرَة ‎(al-zuhara) f: pre-Islamic Arabic, literally "the shining one", from the root z-h-r, perhaps related to the (pagan) Hebrew name for Venus preserved in the Greek transcription ζερουα zeroua (Epiphanius, Panarion)
نَجْم الصَبَاح ‎(najm al-ṣabāh [f]) m: pre-Islamic Arabic, "morning star", lit. "star of the morning"
نَجْم الْمَسَاء (najm al-masāʾ [m]) m: pre-Islamic Arabic, "evening star", lit. "star of the evening"

Persian/Iranian names of the planets

Sun
-Xôršîd / Hôršîd, from Middle Persian Xwar(x)šēd, (indirectly) from Avestan Hvarə.xšaēta, "radiant Sun (Hvar)"
-Hûr (poetic), from the non-compound version of the same name (Old Persian Hvar)
-Mehr, from Middle Persian Mihr, from Old Persian Miθra/Mitra
-Âftâb, "sun, sunshine", from Middle Persian āftāb
-*Hormoz. See on Jupiter and the first note below.
Mercury
-Tîr, from Middle Persian Tīri, from Old Persian Tīriya; translating Syriac Nebū or late Akkadian Nabû, from earlier Akkadian Nabium
-Otâred, from Classical Arabic ʿUṭārid
Venus
-(A)nâhîd, from Middle Persian Anāhīd, from Old Persian Anahita; translating Syriac ˀEštrā / ˀEstrā, borrowed from Akkadian Ištar (or the Akkadian directly)
-Zohre, from Classical Arabic Zuhara

Harranian names of the planets

The Harranian pagans (whose Hellenistic Syrian religion survived until perhaps the 11th century CE) associated the weekdays with the planetary deities, and according to an Arabic source (al-Nadīm, Fihrist 9.1), they used some Akkadian-Syriac and some Greek names for them.

Sun

"Helios": That the sun's Greek name was used in this Syrian town argues against the stereotype of "oriental" sun worship spreading west.

Moon

"Sin": It is unsurprising that the moon god, whose cult centre the city had been for millenia, continued to be called by the Akkadian name Sîn (from earler Akkadian Su'en), even as the inhabitants spoke Syriac/Aramaic. Syriac-speakers were more likely to adopt foreign-language divine names into their language than the Greeks were (who tended much more to "translate" them). The Syriac name, Sahr(a), may have been used side by side with the Akkadian, as was (perhaps still is) done by the Mandaeans.

More detailed interpretations of RV 1.164.46

Interpretations of Ṛgveda 1.164.46

(Responses)

Sanskrit (whole text):
"indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamaghnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo gharutmān
ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadantyaghniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ"

English translation (whole text):
"They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmān.
To what is [o]ne, sages give many a title—they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan."

Bruce Duffy, "Use of RV 1.164.46 to resolve contradictory statements in the Rigveda":
"Max Müller identified and classified under the heading of Henotheism the phenomena in the Ṛgveda where different gods are either described as being the supreme god or are described as having the same divine attributes as other gods. This paper looks at the possibility that these contradictory statements about the gods could be resolved if the verses they occur in were interpreted according to what is said in RV 1.164.46. I have chosen verse 46 because it is one of the few verses in the Ṛgveda that appears to make a direct statement about what poets really had in mind when they were composing the hymns. [...] I translate verse 46 as essentially saying that when the poets of the Ṛgveda talk about gods like Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agní, Yama, Mātariśvan, and the like, they are really talking about what is 'one' [...]. Karl F. Geldner identifies the 'one' of verse 46 as being 'The undeveloped and the immediate precursor to the concept of Brahman in the all-one-teaching of the Upaniṣads.' If Geldner is correct about this then the possible implications of what verse 46 has to say would take on far greater significance in relation to how any hymn in the Ṛgveda, that talks bout gods like those mentioned in verse 46, should really be seen as referring to the 'one', it would also mean that the 'one' of verse 46 should really be seen as a god who is the precursor to the Brahman of the Upaniṣads. That is to Brahman of the Upaniṣads who the authors of those texts proclaim to be the one and only real god of the Vedic cosmos. In order to help determine whether the statement made in the Ṛgveda can be used to help resolve contradictory statements made in the Ṛgveda about the gods [...] this paper will present for comparision statements from three verses of the Ṛgveda and from three verses of the Upaniṣads." (p.1-2)

God/gods

(Sidebranch of this thread)

@EPButler But *dyḗws/*deywós, ho theos/theoi, Tengri/tengri, ISvara/deva, El/elohim, Allah/ʾālihah, all similar but contingent, different.

— Ludwig (@MaiLudwig) 5. Dezember 2016

@EPButler None of them equate to God/gods, which, in Christian-based usage, is acknowledged to be paradoxical. In Hindu usage, not so.

— Ludwig (@MaiLudwig) 5. Dezember 2016

Monotheizing Readings of Polycentric Polytheism

An alternative list of the "major religious groups" of the world

I do not claim that the figures given are particularly accurate or up-to-date, or that the groups listed are anything near comprehensive for this range of group size. I (largely) use figures given in Wikipedia, and the point of this list is to demonstrate that Wikipedia's list of "major religious groups by world population" is only one way of presenting the data, irrespective of the quality of that data (which is probably miserable).
Atheists and agnostics are not included because many "non-religious" people in surveys are practitioners of non-institutional traditions.
Polytheistic groups are given in bold type.

Sunni Islam (1.37 billion), internally diverse (from Salafis to Sufis), proselytizing
     Also the framework of "folk" traditions
Roman Catholicism (1.27 billion), proselytizing
     Eastern Rite (70 million)
     Also the framework of "folk" traditions
Chinese polytheism (1.04 billion), internally diverse
     Includes Daoism, Shenism/"Folk religion", Confucianism
Hinduism (966 million), internally highly diverse (partly non-exclusive memberships), some groups proselytizing
     Vaishnavism (640 million), internally diverse
     Shaivism (252 million), internally diverse
     Shaktism (30 million), internally diverse
Protestant Christians (420 million), internally highly diverse (exclusive memberships)
Independent Christians (330 million), internally highly diverse (exclusive memberships)
Orthodox Christians (275 million), internally highly diverse
Mahayana Buddhism (263 million), internally highly diverse (exclusive memberships)
     Also the framework of ethnic polytheistic traditions
Shia Islam (154-200 million), internally highly diverse (exclusive memberships), some groups proselytizing
Theravada Buddhism (177 million), internally diverse
     Also the framework of ethnic polytheistic traditions
Asian polytheisms (147 million), umbrella (!)
     (Includes Vietnamese and Korean polytheism)
     Many Asian polytheisms have overlap in membership with Buddhism
Japanese polytheism (Shinto) (100 million)
African/Afro-American polytheisms (100 million), umbrella (!)
     Yoruba, Fon, Ewe and Bantu religions have ties to various Afro-American religions
     Many of these polytheisms have overlap in membership with Christianity/Islam
Anglican Christians (87 million)
Falun Gong (80-100 million), proselytizing
"New religionists" (63 million)
Vietnamese polytheism (40 million)
"Marginal" Christians (35 million)
Vajrayana Buddhism (28+ million)
     Tibetan Buddhism (28 million), internally diverse (exclusive memberships)
     Shingon Buddhism (?)
     Also the framework of ethnic polytheistic traditions
Sikhism (28 million)
Judaism (17 million), internally highly diverse (exclusive memberships)
Ahmadiyya Islam (10-20 million), proselytizing
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (15 million), proselytizing
Korean polytheism (5-15 million)
     This figure does not include practitioners who are members of institutional religions!
Spiritism (13 million)
Alevites (8-10 million)
Jehovah's Witnesses (8 million), proselytizing
Caodaism (5-9 million), proselytizing
Jainism (4.2 million)
Tenrikyō (4 million), proselytizing