Hell Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Overview== ===Etymology=== [[File:Hel (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.jpg|thumb|''Hel'' (1889) by [[Johannes Gehrts]], depicts the Old Norse [[Hel (being)|Hel]], a goddess-like figure, in the [[Hel (location)|location of the same name]], which she oversees]] The modern English word ''hell'' is derived from Old English ''hel'', ''helle'' (first attested around 725 AD to refer to a nether world of the dead) reaching into the [[Anglo-Saxon paganism|Anglo-Saxon pagan period]].<ref name=BARNHART348>[[Robert Barnhart|Barnhart, Robert K.]] (1995) ''The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology'', page 348. [[HarperCollins]] {{ISBN|0-06-270084-7}}</ref> The word has [[cognate]]s in all branches of the [[Germanic languages]], including Old Norse ''hel'' (which refers to both a [[Hel (location)|location]] and [[Hel (being)|goddess-like being]] in [[Norse mythology]]), [[Old Frisian]] ''helle'', [[Old Saxon]] ''hellia'', [[Old High German]] ''hella'', and [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''halja''. All forms ultimately derive from the [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] [[Proto-Germanic]] feminine noun *''xaljō'' or *''haljō'' ('concealed place, the underworld'). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the [[Indo-European ablaut|o-grade form]] of the [[Proto-Indo-European root]] *''kel-'', *''kol''-: 'to cover, conceal, save'.<ref name="HEL-NOUN">For discussion and analysis, see Orel (2003:156) and Watkins (2000:38).</ref> Indo-European cognates include Latin ''cēlāre'' ("to hide", related to the English word ''cellar'') and early Irish ''ceilid'' ("hides"). Upon the [[Christianisation of the Germanic peoples]], extensions of the Proto-Germanic *''xaljō'' were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in [[Christian mythology]]<ref name=BARNHART348/><ref>"hell, n. and int." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, January 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/85636. Accessed 7 February 2018.</ref> (see [[Gehenna]]). Related early Germanic terms and concepts include Proto-Germanic *''xalja-rūnō(n)'', a feminine compound noun, and *''xalja-wītjan'', a neutral compound noun. This form is reconstructed from the Latinized Gothic plural noun *''haliurunnae'' (attested by [[Jordanes]]; according to philologist [[Vladimir Orel]], meaning '[[witchcraft|witches]]'), Old English ''helle-rúne'' ('sorceress, [[necromancer]]', according to Orel), and Old High German ''helli-rūna'' 'magic'. The compound is composed of two elements: *''xaljō'' (*''haljō'') and *''rūnō'', the Proto-Germanic precursor to Modern English ''[[runic alphabet|rune]]''.<ref name="HELL-RUNE">See discussion at Orel (2003:155–156 & 310).</ref> The second element in the Gothic ''haliurunnae'' may however instead be an agent noun from the verb ''rinnan'' ("to run, go"), which would make its literal meaning "one who travels to the netherworld".<ref>Scardigli, Piergiuseppe, Die Goten: Sprache und Kultur (1973) pp. 70–71.</ref><ref>Lehmann, Winfred, A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)</ref> Proto–Germanic *''xalja-wītjan'' (or *''halja-wītjan'') is reconstructed from Old Norse ''hel-víti'' 'hell', Old English ''helle-wíte'' 'hell-torment, hell', Old Saxon ''helli-wīti'' 'hell', and the Middle High German feminine noun ''helle-wīze''. The compound is a compound of *''xaljō'' (discussed above) and *''wītjan'' (reconstructed from forms such as Old English ''witt'' 'right mind, wits', Old Saxon ''gewit'' 'understanding', and Gothic ''un-witi'' 'foolishness, understanding').<ref name="HELVÍTI">Orel (2003:156 & 464).</ref> ===Religion, mythology, and folklore=== Hell appears in several [[mythology|mythologies]] and [[religion]]s. It is commonly inhabited by [[demon]]s and the [[soul]]s of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in [[folklore]] across several cultures is the [[allegory of the long spoons]].{{fact|date=January 2023}} === Punishment === [[File:Fresque église huaro.JPG|thumb|240px|Preserved colonial wall paintings of 1802 depicting Hell,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6nutjzmxvkC&q=historia+colonial+de+cusco&pg=PA382|page=106|title=The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530–1830|author1=Elena Phipps|author2=Joanna Hecht|author3=Cristina Esteras Martín|year=2004|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|location=New York|isbn=0-300-10491-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vpi5xwEACAAJ&q=SEBASTI%C3%81N+L%C3%93PEZ,+Santiago.+El+barroco+iberoamericano+1990|title=El bárroco iberoamericano. Mensaje iconográfico|year=1990|location=Madrid|page=241|publisher=Ediciones Encuentro|author=Santiago Sebastián López|isbn=978-84-7490-249-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mavcor.yale.edu/conversations/collections/painting-beyond-frame-religious-murals-colonial-peru|title=Painting Beyond the Frame: Religious Murals of Colonial Peru|author=Ananda Cohen Suarez|date=May 2016|publisher=MAVCOR of the [[Yale University]]}}</ref> by Tadeo Escalante, inside the Church of San Juan Bautista in [[Huaro District|Huaro]], [[Peru]]]] Punishment in hell typically corresponds to [[sin]]s committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with [[Damnation#Religious|damned]] souls suffering for each sin committed, such as in Plato's [[Myth of Er]] or Dante's ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', but sometimes they are general, with condemned sinners relegated to one or more chamber of hell or to a level of suffering.{{fact|date=January 2023}} In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, hell is often depicted as fiery, painful, and harsh, inflicting suffering on the guilty.<ref>Examples from the [[New Testament]] include [[Mark 9]]:43–48, [[Luke 16]]:19–24, [[Revelation 9]]:11; from the [[Quran]], [[Al-Baqara]] verse 24, and [[Al-Mulk]] verses 5–7.</ref> Despite these common depictions of hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray hell as cold. Buddhist{{snd}}and particularly Tibetan Buddhist{{snd}}descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'' portrays the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Alighieri |first=Dante |author-link=Dante Alighieri |others=trans. [[John Ciardi]] |title= Inferno |orig-date= c. 1315 |edition=2 |date=June 2001 |version=orig. trans. 1977 |publisher=Penguin |location=[[New York City|New York]] |chapter=Cantos XXXI–XXXIV |title-link=Divine Comedy }}</ref> But cold also played a part in earlier Christian depictions of hell or purgatory, beginning with the [[Apocalypse of Paul]], originally from the early third century;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gardiner |first1=Eileen |title=Visions of heaven and hell before Dante |date=1989 |publisher=Italica Press |isbn=978-0-934977-14-2 |page=43 |oclc=18741120 }}</ref> the "[[Vision of Dryhthelm]]" by the Venerable [[Bede]] from the seventh century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions,'' pp. 58 and 61.</ref> "[[St Patrick's Purgatory]]", "The Vision of Tundale" or "[[Visio Tnugdali]]", and the "Vision of the [[Adam of Eynsham|Monk of Eynsham]]", all from the twelfth century;<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions'', pp. 141, 160 and 174, and 206–7.</ref> and the "Vision of Thurkill" from the early thirteenth century.<ref>Gardiner, ''Visions'', pp. 222 and 232.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page