Etymologically
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hell

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English helle, inherited from Old English hel, helle (“the underworld, abode of the dead”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *haljō (“the underworld”),[2] literally “concealed place”, from the Germanic base meaning “to cover, conceal”, as in Old English helan.[2][5][4] Its cognates include Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Dutch hel, German Hölle and Old Norse hel,[2][4][6] and Gothic has halja.[2][5] Watkins traces it to Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to cover, conceal”),[2][7] the root also of Latin cēlāre (“to hide”), the source of conceal, and of hall, helmet and hole.[8][9][6] Barnhart suggests that Old Norse Hel, the goddess of death, may have reinforced the English word, as a pagan concept transferred to Christian theology.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The nether world of the dead: Old English hel, about 725,[3] and in Christian use about 825.[10] The place of torment for the damned is from about 888.[10]

Semantic evolution

The American Heritage Dictionary explains that, because the Roman Church prevailed in England from early on, the Mediterranean belief that hell was hot prevailed too: Old English hel is black and fiery.[7] In Middle English it also meant the limbo where the patriarchs awaited the Atonement.[2] The King James Version uses it for Hebrew שְׁאוֹל (šəʾōl) and Greek ᾅδης (Háidēs).[2][10] A state of misery is from the late 14th century,[2][10] and an exclamation of anger from the 1670s.[2] All hell breaks loose is from about 1600, hell or high water from 1874, and hell in a handbasket by 1867.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English hel.[3]
  • c. 888 – a place of torment.[10]
  • c. 1374 – a state of misery.[10]
  • c. 1600 – hell breaks loose.[2]
  • 1670s – an exclamation.[2]
  • 1874 – hell or high water.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. In some religions, the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death.
  2. The abode of the dead; the underworld, identified with Sheol and Hades.
  3. A situation or place of great suffering or misery.
  4. (informal) Used as an intensive: a hell of a mess.

Interjection

  1. Used to express anger, disgust or impatience.

Verb

  1. (slang) To behave riotously.

Word family

  • hell-like
  • hell's bells

Usage notes

A separate northern dialect verb hell, “to pour”, is recorded from before 1340.[10][11]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ 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)