Satan

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English Satan, also Sathan,^[2][3][1] inherited from Old English Satan,^[3][4][5] borrowed from Late Latin Satan,^[6][4][7][8] which occurs in the Vulgate only in the Old Testament.^[6][8][9] Most dictionaries go through Ancient Greek Σατανᾶς (Satanâs) and Σατᾶν (Satân) to Biblical Hebrew שָׂטָן (śāṭān, “adversary, one who plots against another”),^[6][4][7][3] while the OED derives the Latin word directly from Hebrew and calls the noun of uncertain origin.^[8] The American Heritage Dictionary, Barnhart, Klein and Hoad take the noun from a verb meaning to oppose or plot against,^{[7][4][10][11]} but the OED considers that rare verb to come from the noun.^[8] The OED adds that the English word was later reinforced by Anglo-Norman Sathan and Old French Satan, recorded from the 12th century.^[8] Klein regards Arabic شَيْطَان (šayṭān), the source of shaitan, as a loan from Hebrew.^[10][1] Old English also had Satanas, from the Greek form.^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The name of the Devil: Barnhart dates the Old English word about 750,^[4] and the OED's first quotation is from Crist III.^[8] Bosworth-Toller quotes the Old English Genesis, where God says that the highest should be called Satan.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the Hebrew Bible the word ordinarily means a human adversary; only in some later books (Job, Psalm 109, Zechariah, Chronicles) does it name, chiefly with the definite article, an angelic being who tempts people and accuses them before God.^[8] The Septuagint usually translated it Ancient Greek διάβολος (diábolos, “slanderer”), the source of devil, and once ἐπίβουλος (epíboulos, “plotter”).^[6][8] Etymonline quotes Elaine Pagels: in biblical sources the word describes a role and is not the name of a particular character.^[6] The Greek New Testament usually has Σατανᾶς, which the Vulgate and the Wycliffite Bible followed;^[8] English versions from Tyndale on have Satan.^[8][9] English extended the name to any devil or evil spirit from about 1545,^[8] and to a wicked person from before 1513, as in Falstaff's "that old white-bearded Satan".^[8][12][3] After the Hebrew sense, it was also used for an adversary or enemy from 1603 to 1685.^[8] Johnson (1755) glossed the word as "The prince of hell; the devil; any wicked spirit".^[13] It has served in curses since before 1450,^[8] in "get thee behind me, Satan" for a rejected temptation since 1658,^[8] and as a slang stand-in for "the devil" or "hell" in 19th-century phrases like "a Satan of a lot".^[14] English dialects named plants and pests after him: Satan's cherries for deadly nightshade in North Yorkshire, Satan's horse for the wireworm in Lancashire and Satan's snuff-box for a puffball in Sussex.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 750 – Old English, the name of the Devil.^[4][8]
• c. 1225 – Middle English Satan, in St Juliana.^[2]
• before 1450 – in curses and wishes of evil.^[8]
• before 1513 – a person likened to Satan, especially as wicked or cruel.^[8]
• c. 1545 – a devil, an evil spirit.^[8]
• 1603 – an adversary, an enemy (obsolete by 1685).^[8]
• 1658 – get thee behind me, Satan, rejecting a temptation.^[8]
• 1667 – satanic, of Satan, in Milton's Paradise Lost.^[4]
• 1885 – slang, a euphemism for hell or the devil.^[14]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. In Christianity and other Abrahamic religions, the supreme spirit of evil and tempter of humankind, the enemy of God; the Devil, sometimes identified with Lucifer.^{[7][16][8][3]}

Noun

1. A devil or evil spirit.^[8][3]
2. A wicked or cruel person, or, in a weakened sense, a person or animal one finds detestable.^[8][3][12]
3. (obsolete, 1603–1685) An adversary or enemy.^[8][12]

Word family

• satanic
• satanical
• Satanism
• Satanist

Related words

• devil
• shaitan
• Satanas

Usage notes

A short-vowel pronunciation /ˈsætən/ was criticised by Walker (1828) and has dropped out of later dictionaries, though the first edition of the OED (1909) called it still not uncommon in British liturgical and pulpit use about 1900.^[8] Dictionary.com lists Satan with satin as words open to confusion.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House