The use of the word hell

This article is about the abode of the dead in various cultures and religious traditions around the world. For other uses, see Hell (disambiguation).

Hell – detail from a fresco in the medieval church of St Nicholas in Raduil, Bulgaria

Belief in Hell by country (2017-20)

In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as eternal destinations, the biggest examples of which are Christianity and Islam, whereas religions with reincarnation usually depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations, as is the case in the dharmic religions. Religions typically locate hell in another dimension or under Earth’s surface. Other afterlife destinations include heaven, paradise, purgatory, limbo, and the underworld.

Other religions, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe an abode of the dead, the grave, a neutral place that is located under the surface of Earth (for example, see Kur, Hades, and Sheol). Such places are sometimes equated with the English word hell, though a more correct translation would be «underworld» or «world of the dead». The ancient Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, and Finnic religions include entrances to the underworld from the land of the living.

Overview

Etymology

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 pagan period.[1] The word has cognates in all branches of the Germanic languages, including Old Norse hel (which refers to both a location and goddess-like being in Norse mythology), Old Frisian helle, Old Saxon hellia, Old High German hella, and Gothic halja. All forms ultimately derive from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic feminine noun *xaljō or *haljō (‘concealed place, the underworld’). In turn, the Proto-Germanic form derives from the o-grade form of the Proto-Indo-European root *kel-, *kol-: ‘to cover, conceal, save’.[2] Indo-European cognates include Latin cēlāre («to hide», related to the English word cellar) and early Irish ceilid («hides»). Upon the Christianization of the Germanic peoples, extensions of the Proto-Germanic *xaljō were reinterpreted to denote the underworld in Christian mythology[1][3] (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 ‘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 rune.[4] 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».[5][6]

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’).[7]

Religion, mythology, and folklore

Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people. A fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures is the allegory of the long spoons.[citation needed]

Punishment

Preserved colonial wall painting of 1802 depicting Hell,[8][9][10] by Tadeo Escalante, inside the Church of San Juan Bautista in Huaro, Peru

Punishment in hell typically corresponds to sins committed during life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with 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.[citation needed]

In many religious cultures, including Christianity and Islam, hell is often depicted as fiery, painful, and harsh, inflicting suffering on the guilty.[11] Despite these common depictions of hell as a place of fire, some other traditions portray hell as cold. Buddhist – and particularly Tibetan Buddhist – descriptions of hell feature an equal number of hot and cold hells. Among Christian descriptions Dante’s Inferno portrays the innermost (9th) circle of hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt.[12]
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;[13] the «Vision of Dryhthelm» by the Venerable Bede from the seventh century;[14] «St Patrick’s Purgatory», «The Vision of Tundale» or «Visio Tnugdali», and the «Vision of the Monk of Eynsham», all from the twelfth century;[15] and the «Vision of Thurkill» from the early thirteenth century.[16]

Polytheism

Africa

The hell of Swahili mythology is called kuzimu, and belief in it developed in the 7th and 8th century under the influence of Muslim merchants at the East African coast.[17] It is imagined as a very cold place.[17] Serer religion rejects the general notion of heaven and hell.[18] In Serer religion, acceptance by the ancestors who have long departed is as close to any heaven as one can get. Rejection and becoming a wandering soul is a sort of hell for one passing over. The souls of the dead must make their way to Jaaniw (the sacred dwelling place of the soul). Only those who have lived their lives on earth in accordance with Serer doctrines will be able to make this necessary journey and thus be accepted by the ancestors. Those who can’t make the journey become lost and wandering souls, but they do not burn in «hell fire».[18][19]

According to the Yoruba mythology, there is no hellfire. Wicked people (guilty of e.g. theft, witchcraft, murder, or cruelty[20]) are confined to Orun Apaadi (heaven of potsherds), while the good people continue to live in the ancestral realm, Orun Baba Eni (heaven of our fathers).[21]

Ancient Egypt

With the rise of the cult of Osiris during the Middle Kingdom the «democratization of religion» offered to even his humblest followers the prospect of eternal life, with moral fitness becoming the dominant factor in determining a person’s suitability. At death a person faced judgment by a tribunal of forty-two divine judges. If they had led a life in conformance with the precepts of the goddess Maat, who represented truth and right living, the person was welcomed into the heavenly reed fields. If found guilty the person was thrown to Ammit, the «devourer of the dead» and would be condemned to the lake of fire.[23] The person taken by the devourer is subject first to terrifying punishment and then annihilated. These depictions of punishment may have influenced medieval perceptions of the inferno in hell via early Christian and Coptic texts.[24] Purification for those considered justified appears in the descriptions of «Flame Island», where humans experience the triumph over evil and rebirth. For the damned complete destruction into a state of non-being awaits but there is no suggestion of eternal torture; the weighing of the heart in Egyptian mythology can lead to annihilation.[25][26] The Tale of Khaemwese describes the torment of a rich man, who lacked charity, when he dies and compares it to the blessed state of a poor man who has also died.[27]
Divine pardon at judgment always remained a central concern for the ancient Egyptians.[28]

Modern understanding of Egyptian notions of hell relies on six ancient texts:[29]

  1. The Book of Two Ways (Book of the Ways of Rosetau)
  2. The Book of Amduat (Book of the Hidden Room, Book of That Which Is in the Underworld)
  3. The Book of Gates
  4. The Book of the Dead (Book of Going Forth by Day)
  5. The Book of the Earth
  6. The Book of Caverns

Asia

The hells of Asia include the Bagobo «Gimokodan» (which is believed to be more of an otherworld, where the Red Region is reserved who those who died in battle, while ordinary people go to the White Region)[30] and in Dharmic religions, «Kalichi» or «Naraka».

According to a few sources, hell is below ground, and described as an uninviting wet[31] or fiery place reserved for sinful people in the Ainu religion, as stated by missionary John Batchelor.[32] However, belief in hell does not appear in oral tradition of the Ainu.[33] Instead, there is belief within the Ainu religion that the soul of the deceased (ramat) would become a kamuy after death.[33] There is also belief that the soul of someone who has been wicked during lifetime, committed suicide, got murdered or died in great agony would become a ghost (tukap) who would haunt the living,[33] to come to fulfillment from which it was excluded during life.[34]

In Taoism, hell is represented by Diyu.

Ancient Mesopotamia

The Sumerian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground,[35] where inhabitants were believed to continue «a shadowy version of life on earth».[35] This bleak domain was known as Kur,[36]: 114  and was believed to be ruled by the goddess Ereshkigal.[35][37]: 184  All souls went to the same afterlife,[35] and a person’s actions during life had no effect on how the person would be treated in the world to come.[35]

The souls in Kur were believed to eat nothing but dry dust[36]: 58  and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the dead person’s grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.[36]: 58  Nonetheless, funerary evidence indicates that some people believed that the goddess Inanna, Ereshkigal’s younger sister, had the power to award her devotees with special favors in the afterlife.[35][38] During the Third Dynasty of Ur, it was believed that a person’s treatment in the afterlife depended on how he or she was buried;[36]: 58  those that had been given sumptuous burials would be treated well,[36]: 58  but those who had been given poor burials would fare poorly.[36]: 58 

The entrance to Kur was believed to be located in the Zagros mountains in the far east.[36]: 114  It had seven gates, through which a soul needed to pass.[35] The god Neti was the gatekeeper.[37]: 184 [36]: 86  Ereshkigal’s sukkal, or messenger, was the god Namtar.[36]: 134 [37]: 184  Galla were a class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld;[36]: 85  their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur.[36]: 85  They are frequently referenced in magical texts,[36]: 85–86  and some texts describe them as being seven in number.[36]: 85–86  Several extant poems describe the galla dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld.[36]: 86  The later Mesopotamians knew this underworld by its East Semitic name: Irkalla. During the Akkadian Period, Ereshkigal’s role as the ruler of the underworld was assigned to Nergal, the god of death.[35][37]: 184  The Akkadians attempted to harmonize this dual rulership of the underworld by making Nergal Ereshkigal’s husband.[35]

Europe

The hells of Europe include Breton mythology’s «Anaon», Celtic mythology’s «Uffern», Slavic mythology’s «Peklo», Norse mythology’s Náströnd, the hell of Sami mythology and Finnish «Tuonela» («manala»).

Ancient Greece and Rome

In classic Greek mythology, below heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros (Greek Τάρταρος, deep place). It is either a deep, gloomy place, a pit or abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides within Hades (the entire underworld) with Tartarus being the hellish component. In the Gorgias, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that souls of the deceased were judged after they paid for crossing the river of the dead and those who received punishment were sent to Tartarus.[39] As a place of punishment, it can be considered a hell. The classic Hades, on the other hand, is more similar to Old Testament Sheol. The Romans later adopted these views.

Abrahamic religions

Hell is conceived of in most Abrahamic religions as a place of, or a form of, punishment.[40]

Judaism

Judaism does not have a specific doctrine about the afterlife, but it does have a mystical/Orthodox tradition of describing Gehinnom. Gehinnom is not hell, but originally a grave and in later times a sort of Purgatory where one is judged based on one’s life’s deeds, or rather, where one becomes fully aware of one’s own shortcomings and negative actions during one’s life. The Kabbalah explains it as a «waiting room» (commonly translated as an «entry way») for all souls (not just the wicked). The overwhelming majority of rabbinic thought maintains that people are not in Gehinnom forever; the longest that one can be there is said to be 12 months, however, there has been the occasional noted exception. Some consider it a spiritual forge where the soul is purified for its eventual ascent to Olam Habah (heb. עולם הבא; lit. «The world to come», often viewed as analogous to heaven). This is also mentioned in the Kabbalah, where the soul is described as breaking, like the flame of a candle lighting another: the part of the soul that ascends being pure and the «unfinished» piece being reborn.

According to Jewish teachings, hell is not entirely physical; rather, it can be compared to a very intense feeling of shame. People are ashamed of their misdeeds and this constitutes suffering which makes up for the bad deeds. When one has so deviated from the will of God, one is said to be in Gehinnom. This is not meant to refer to some point in the future, but to the very present moment. The gates of teshuva (return) are said to be always open, and so one can align his will with that of God at any moment. Being out of alignment with God’s will is itself a punishment according to the Torah.

Many scholars of Jewish mysticism, particularly of the Kabbalah, describe seven «compartments» or «habitations» of hell, just as they describe seven divisions of heaven. These divisions go by many different names, and the most frequently mentioned are as follows:[41]

  • Sheol (Hebrew: שְׁאוֹל – «underworld», «Hades»; «grave»)
  • Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן – «doom», «perdition»)
  • Be’er Shachat (Hebrew: בְּאֵר שַׁחַת, Be’er Shachath – «pit of corruption»)
  • Tit ha-Yaven (Hebrew: טִיט הַיָוֵן – «clinging mud»)
  • Sha’are Mavet (Hebrew: שַׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת, Sha’arei Maveth – «gates of death»)
  • Tzalmavet (Hebrew: צַלמָוֶת, Tsalmaveth – «shadow of death»)
  • Gehinnom (Hebrew: גֵיהִנוֹם, Gehinnom – «valley of Hinnom»; «Tartarus», «Purgatory»)

Besides those mentioned above, there also exist additional terms that have been often used to either refer to hell in general or to some region of the underworld:

  • Azazel (Hebrew: עֲזָאזֵל, compd. of ez עֵז: «goat» + azal אָזַל: «to go away» – «goat of departure», «scapegoat»; «entire removal», «damnation»)
  • Dudael (Hebrew: דּוּדָאֵל – lit. «cauldron of God»)
  • Tehom (Hebrew: תְהוֹם – «abyss»; «sea», «deep ocean»)[42]
  • Tophet (Hebrew: תֹּפֶת or תוֹפֶת, Topheth – «fire-place», «place of burning», «place to be spit upon»; «inferno»)[43][44]
  • Tzoah Rotachat (Hebrew: צוֹאָה רוֹתֵחַת, Tsoah Rothachath – «boiling excrement»)[45]
  • Mashchit (Hebrew: מַשְׁחִית, Mashchith – «destruction», «ruin»)
  • Dumah (Hebrew: דוּמָה – «silence»)
  • Neshiyyah (Hebrew: נְשִׁיָּה – «oblivion», «Limbo»)
  • Bor Shaon (Hebrew: בּוֹר שָׁאוֹן – «cistern of sound»)
  • Eretz Tachtit (Hebrew: אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּית, Erets Tachtith – «lowest earth»).[46][47]
  • Masak Mavdil (Hebrew: מָסָך מַבְדִּ֔יל, Masak Mabdil – «dividing curtain»)
  • Haguel (Ethiopic: ሀጉለ – «(place of) destruction», «loss», «waste»)[48]
  • Ikisat (Ethiopic: አክይስት – «serpents», «dragons»; «place of future punishment»)[49][50]

For more information, see Qliphoth.

Maimonides declares in his 13 principles of faith that the hells of the rabbinic literature were pedagogically motivated inventions to encourage respect of the Torah commandments by mankind, which had been regarded as immature.[51] Instead of being sent to hell, the souls of the wicked would actually get annihilated.[52]

In Judaism around the time of Jesus, almost all practitioners believed that their descent from Abraham automatically stopped them from going to hell.[53]

Christianity

The Christian doctrine of hell derives from passages in the New Testament. The word hell does not appear in the Greek New Testament; instead one of three words is used: the Greek words Tartarus or Hades, or the Hebrew word Gehinnom.

In the Septuagint and New Testament, the authors used the Greek term Hades for the Hebrew Sheol, but often with Jewish rather than Greek concepts in mind. In the Jewish concept of Sheol, such as expressed in Ecclesiastes,[54] Sheol or Hades is a place where there is no activity. However, since Augustine, some[which?] Christians have believed that the souls of those who die either rest peacefully, in the case of Christians, or are afflicted, in the case of the damned, after death until the resurrection.[55]

Hebrew OT Septuagint Greek NT times in NT Vulgate KJV NIV
שְׁאוֹל (Sheol)[56] Ἅιδης (Haïdēs)[57] ᾌδης (Ádēs)[58] x10[59] infernus[60] Hell Hades
גֵיא בֶן־הִנֹּם (Ge Hinom)[61] Εννομ (Ennom)[62] γέεννα (géenna)[63] x11[64] gehennae[65]/gehennam[66] Hell Hell
(Not applicable) (Not applicable) Ταρταρόω (Tartaróō)[67] x1 tartarum[68] Hell Hell

While these three terms are translated in the KJV as «hell» they have three very different meanings.

  • Hades has similarities to the Old Testament term, Sheol as «the place of the dead» or «grave». Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.[69]
  • Gehenna refers to the «Valley of Hinnom», which was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was a place where people burned their garbage and thus there was always a fire burning there.[contradictory] Bodies of those deemed to have died in sin without hope of salvation (such as people who committed suicide) were thrown there to be destroyed.[70] Gehenna is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the final place of punishment for the wicked after the resurrection.[71]
  • Tartaróō (the verb «throw to Tartarus», used of the fall of the Titans in a scholium on Illiad 14.296) occurs only once in the New Testament in II Peter 2:4, where it is parallel to the use of the noun form in 1 Enoch as the place of incarceration of the fallen angels. It mentions nothing about human souls being sent there in the afterlife.

The Catholic Church defines hell as «a state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed». One finds oneself in hell as the result of dying in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love, becoming eternally separated from him by one’s own free choice[72] immediately after death.[73] In the Roman Catholic Church, many other Christian churches, such as the Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians, and some Greek Orthodox churches,[74] hell is taught as the final destiny of those who have not been found worthy after the general resurrection and last judgment,[75][76][77] where they will be eternally punished for sin and permanently separated from God.[78] The nature of this judgment is inconsistent with many Protestant churches teaching the saving comes from accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, while the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches teach that the judgment hinges on both faith and works. However, many Liberal Christians throughout Mainline Protestant churches believe in universal reconciliation (see below), even though it contradicts the traditional doctrines that are usually held by the evangelicals within their denominations.[79] Regarding the belief in hell, the interpretation of Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus is also relevant.[80]

Some modern Christian theologians subscribe to the doctrines of conditional immortality. Conditional immortality is the belief that the soul dies with the body and does not live again until the resurrection. As with other Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, the New Testament text distinguishes two words, both translated «hell» in older English Bibles: Hades, «the grave», and Gehenna where God «can destroy both body and soul».[81] A minority of Christians read this to mean that neither Hades nor Gehenna are eternal but refer to the ultimate destruction of the wicked in the Lake of Fire in a consuming fire after resurrection. However, because of the Greek words used in translating from the Hebrew text, the Hebrew ideas have become confused with Greek myths and ideas. In the Hebrew text when people died they went to Sheol, the grave[82] and the wicked ultimately went to Gehenna and were consumed by fire. The Hebrew words for «the grave» or «death» or «eventual destruction of the wicked», were translated using Greek words and later texts became a mix of mistranslation, pagan influence, and Greek myth.[83]

Christian mortalism is the doctrine that all men and women, including Christians, must die, and do not continue and are not conscious after death. Therefore, annihilationism includes the doctrine that «the wicked» are also destroyed rather than tormented forever in traditional «hell» or the lake of fire. Christian mortalism and annihilationism are directly related to the doctrine of conditional immortality, the idea that a human soul is not immortal unless it is given eternal life at the second coming of Christ and resurrection of the dead.

Biblical scholars looking at the issue through the Hebrew text have denied the teaching of innate immortality.[84][85] Rejection of the immortality of the soul, and advocacy of Christian mortalism, was a feature of Protestantism since the early days of the Reformation with Martin Luther himself rejecting the traditional idea, though his mortalism did not carry into orthodox Lutheranism. One of the most notable English opponents of the immortality of the soul was Thomas Hobbes who describes the idea as a Greek «contagion» in Christian doctrine.[86] Modern proponents of conditional immortality include some in the Anglican church such as N. T. Wright[87] and as denominations the Seventh-day Adventists, Bible Students, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christadelphians, Living Church of God, The Church of God International, and some other Protestant Christians. The Catholic Caechism states «The souls of sinners descend into hell, where they suffer ‘eternal fire«. However, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, said «there’s nowhere in Catholic teaching that actually says any one person is in hell».[88] The 1993 Catechism of the Catholic Church states: «This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called ‘hell«[89] and «they suffer the punishments of hell, ‘eternal fire«.[90] The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God» (CCC 1035). During an Audience in 1999, Pope John Paul II commented: «images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.»[91]

Other denominations

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s official beliefs support annihilationism.[92][93] They deny the Catholic purgatory and teach that the dead lie in the grave until they are raised for a last judgment, both the righteous and wicked await the resurrection at the Second Coming. Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states «the dead know nothing», and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming. These verses, it is argued, indicate that death is only a period or form of slumber.

Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place shortly after the second coming of Jesus, as described in Revelation 20:4–6 that follows Revelation 19:11–16, whereas the resurrection of the wicked will occur after the millennium, as described in Revelation 20:5 and 20:12–13 that follow Revelation 20:4 and 6–7, though Revelation 20:12–13 and 15 actually describe a mixture of saved and condemned people being raised from the dead and judged. Adventists reject the traditional doctrine of hell as a state of everlasting conscious torment, believing instead that the wicked will be permanently destroyed after the millennium by the lake of fire, which is called ‘the second death’ in Revelation 20:14.

Those Adventist doctrines about death and hell reflect an underlying belief in: (a) conditional immortality (or conditionalism), as opposed to the immortality of the soul; and (b) the monistic nature of human beings, in which the soul is not separable from the body, as opposed to bipartite or tripartite conceptions, in which the soul is separable.

Jehovah’s Witnesses hold that the soul ceases to exist when the person dies[94] and therefore that hell (Sheol or Hades) is a state of non-existence.[94] In their theology, Gehenna differs from Sheol or Hades in that it holds no hope of a resurrection.[94] Tartarus is held to be the metaphorical state of debasement of the fallen angels between the time of their moral fall (Genesis chapter 6) until their post-millennial destruction along with Satan (Revelation chapter 20).[95]

Bible Students and Christadelphians also believe in annihilationism.

Christian Universalists believe in universal reconciliation, the belief that all human souls will be eventually reconciled with God and admitted to heaven.[96] This belief is held by some Unitarian-Universalists.[97][98][99]

According to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Second Coming Christian revelation, hell exists because evil people want it.[100] They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.[101] In Swedenborgianism, every soul joins the like-minded group after death in which it feels the most comfortable. Hell is therefore believed to be a place of happiness for the souls which delight in evilness.[102]

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) teach that hell is a state between death and resurrection, in which those spirits who did not repent while on earth must suffer for their own sins (Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–17[103]). After that, only the Sons of perdition, who committed the Eternal sin, would be cast into Outer darkness. However, according to Mormon faith, committing the Eternal sin requires so much knowledge that most persons cannot do this.[104] Satan and Cain are counted as examples of Sons of perdition.

Islam

Muhammad, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit hell, and they see «shameless women» being eternally punished for exposing their hair to the sight of strangers. Persian, 15th century.

In Islam, jahannam (in Arabic: جهنم) (related to the Hebrew word gehinnom) is the counterpart to heaven and likewise divided into seven layers, both co-existing with the temporal world,[105] filled with blazing fire, boiling water, and a variety of other torments for those who have been condemned to it in the hereafter. In the Quran, God declares that the fire of Jahannam is prepared for both mankind and jinn.[106][107] After the Day of Judgment, it is to be occupied by those who do not believe in God, those who have disobeyed his laws, or rejected his messengers.[108] «Enemies of Islam» are sent to hell immediately upon their deaths.[109] Muslim modernists downplay the vivid descriptions of hell common during Classical period, on one hand reaffirming that the afterlife must not be denied, but simultaneously asserting its exact nature remains unknown. Other modern Muslims continue the line of Sufism as an interiorized hell, combining the eschatological thoughts of Ibn Arabi and Rumi with Western philosophy.[105] Although disputed by some scholars, most scholars consider jahannam to be eternal.[110][105] There is belief that the fire which represents the own bad deeds can already be seen during the Punishment of the Grave, and that the spiritual pain caused by this can lead to purification of the soul.[111] Not all Muslims and scholars agree whether hell is an eternal destination or whether some or all of the condemned will eventually be forgiven and allowed to enter paradise.[109][112][113][114][excessive citations]

Over hell, a narrow bridge called As-Sirāt is spanned. On Judgment Day one must pass over it to reach paradise, but those destined for hell will find too narrow and fall from into their new abode.[115] Iblis, the temporary ruler of hell,[116] is thought of residing in the bottom of hell, from where he commands his hosts of infernal demons.[117][118] But contrary to Christian traditions, Iblis and his infernal hosts do not wage war against God,[112] his enmity applies against humanity only. Further, his dominion in hell is also his punishment. Executioners of punishment are the zabaniyya, who have been created from the fires of hell. According to the Muwatta Hadith, the Bukhari Hadith, the Tirmidhi Hadith, and the Kabir Hadith, Muhammad claimed that the fire of Jahannam is not red, but pitch-black, and is 70 times hotter than ordinary fire, and is much more painful than ordinary fire.[citation needed]

Seven stages of punishment

The seven gates of jahannam, mentioned in the Quran, inspired Muslim exegetes (tafsir) to develop a system of seven stages of hell, analogue to the seven doors of paradise. The stages of hell get their names by seven different terms used for hell throughout the Quran. Each is assigned for a different type of sinners. The concept later accepted by Sunni authorities list the levels of hell as follows, although some stages may vary:[119][120]

  1. Jahannam (جهنم Gehenna)
  2. Laza (لظى fierce blaze)
  3. Hutama (حطم crushing fire)
  4. Sa’ir (سعير raging fire)
  5. Saqar (سقر scorching fire)
  6. Jahim (جحيم furnace)
  7. Hawiya (هاوية infernal abyss)

The highest level (jahannam) is traditionally thought of as a type of purgatory reserved for Muslims. Polytheism (shirk) is regarded as a particularly grievous sin; therefore entering Paradise is forbidden to a polytheist (musyrik) because his place is hell;[121] and the second lowest level (jahim) only after the bottomless pit for the hypocrites (hawiyah), who claimed aloud to believe in God and his messenger but in their hearts did not.[122]

Gatekeepers
  • Sukha’il (صوخائيل) of Jahannam
  • Tufa’il (طوفائيل) of Laza
  • Tafta’il (طفطائيل) of Sa’ir
  • Susbabil (صوصَابيل) of Saqar
  • Tarfatil (طرفاطيل) of Jahim
  • Istafatabil (اصطافاطابيل) of Haviya

[123]

In the heavens

Muhammad requests Maalik to show him Hell during his heavenly journey. Miniature from The David Collection.

Although the earliest reports about Muhammad’s journey through the heavens, do not locate hell in the heavens,[124] only brief references about visiting hell during the journey appears. But extensive accounts about Muhammad’s night journey, in the non-canonical but popular Miraj-Literature, tell about encountering the angels of hell. Maalik, the keeper to the gates of hell, namely appears in Ibn Abbas’ Isra and Mi’raj.[105] The doors to hell are either in the third[124] or fifth heaven,[125][105] or (although only implicitly) in a heaven close God’s throne,[124] or directly after entering heaven,[126] whereupon Muhammad requests a glaze at hell. Ibn Hisham gives extensive details about Muhammad visiting hell and its inhabitants punished wherein, but can only endure watching the punishments of the first layer of hell.[127] Muhammad meeting Malik, the Dajjal and hell, was used as a proof for Muhammad’s Night Journey.[128]

Beneath the earth

Medieval sources often identified hell with the seven earths mentioned in Quran 65:12, inhabited by devils, harsh angels, scorpions and serpents, who torment the sinners. They described thorny shrubs, seas filled with blood and fire and darkness only illuminated by the flames of hell.[105] One popular concept arrange the earths as follows:[129][130]

  1. Adim or Ramaka (رمکا) — the surface, on which human, animals and jinn live on.
  2. Basit or Khawfa (خوفا)
  3. Thaqil or ‘Arafa (عرفه) — anthechamber
  4. Batih or Hadna (حدنه) — a valley with stream of boiling sulphur.
  5. Hayn or Dama (دمَا)
  6. Sijjin, (سجىن dungeon or prison) or Masika (sometimes, Sijjin is at the bottom) — Quran 83:7
  7. Nar as-Samum, Zamhareer or As-Saqar / Athara,[131] or Hanina (حنينا) — venomous wind of fire and a cold wind of ice.

Baháʼí Faith

In the Baháʼí Faith, the conventional descriptions of hell and heaven are considered to be symbolic representations of spiritual conditions. The Baháʼí writings describe closeness to God to be heaven, and conversely, remoteness from God as hell.[132] The Baháʼí writings state that the soul is immortal and after death it will continue to progress until it finally attains God’s presence.[133]

Eastern religions

Buddhism

Naraka in the Burmese representation

In «Devaduta Sutta», the 130th discourse of the Majjhima Nikaya, Buddha teaches about hell in vivid detail. Buddhism teaches that there are five or six realms of rebirth, which can then be further subdivided into degrees of agony or pleasure.[citation needed]) Of these realms, the hell realms, or Naraka, is the lowest realm of rebirth. Of the hell realms, the worst is Avīci (Sanskrit and Pali for «without waves»). The Buddha’s disciple, Devadatta, who tried to kill the Buddha on three occasions, as well as create a schism in the monastic order, is said[by whom?] to have been reborn in the Avici hell.

Like all realms of rebirth in Buddhism, rebirth in the hell realms is not permanent, though suffering can persist for eons before being reborn again.[citation needed] In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha teaches that eventually even Devadatta will become a Pratyekabuddha himself, emphasizing the temporary nature of the hell realms. Thus, Buddhism teaches to escape the endless migration of rebirths (both positive and negative) through the attainment of Nirvana.

The Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha, according to the Ksitigarbha Sutra, made a great vow as a young girl to not reach Nirvana until all beings were liberated from the hell realms or other unwholesome rebirths. In popular literature, Ksitigarbha travels to the hell realms to teach and relieve beings of their suffering.

Hinduism

Yama’s Court and Hell. The Blue figure is Yamaraja (The Hindu god of death) with his consort Yami and Chitragupta
17th-century painting from Government Museum, Chennai.

Early Vedic religion does not have a concept of hell. The Rigveda mentions three realms, bhūr (the earth), svar (the sky) and bhuvas or antarikṣa (the middle area, i.e. air or atmosphere). In later Hindu literature, especially the law books and Puranas, more realms are mentioned, including a realm similar to hell, called naraka (in Devanāgarī: नरक). Yama as the first born human (together with his twin sister Yamī), by virtue of precedence, becomes ruler of men and a judge on their departure. Originally he resides in heaven, but later, especially medieval, traditions mention his court in naraka.[citation needed]

In the law-books (smṛtis and dharma-sūtras, like the Manu-smṛti), naraka is a place of punishment for misdeeds. It is a lower spiritual plane (called naraka-loka) where the spirit is judged and the partial fruits of karma affect the next life. In the Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas both going to heaven. At first Yudhisthir goes to heaven where he sees Duryodhana enjoying heaven; Indra tells him that Duryodhana is in heaven as he did his Kshatriya duties. Then he shows Yudhisthir hell where it appears his brothers are. Later it is revealed that this was a test for Yudhisthir and that his brothers and the Kauravas are all in heaven and live happily in the divine abode of gods. Hells are also described in various Puranas and other scriptures. The Garuda Purana gives a detailed account of Hell and its features; it lists the amount of punishment for most crimes, much like a modern-day penal code.

It is believed[by whom?] that people who commit misdeeds go to hell and have to go through punishments in accordance with the misdeeds they committed. The god Yama, who is also the god of death, presides over hell. Detailed accounts of all the misdeeds committed by an individual are kept by Chitragupta, who is the record keeper in Yama’s court. Chitragupta reads out the misdeeds committed and Yama orders appropriate punishments to be given to individuals. These punishments include dipping in boiling oil, burning in fire, torture using various weapons, etc. in various hells. Individuals who finish their quota of the punishments are reborn in accordance with their balance of karma. All created beings are imperfect and thus have at least one misdeed to their record; but if one has generally led a meritorious life, one ascends to svarga, a temporary realm of enjoyment similar to Paradise, after a brief period of expiation in hell and before the next reincarnation, according to the law of karma.[citation needed] With the exception of Hindu philosopher Madhva, time in hell is not regarded as eternal damnation within Hinduism.[134]

According to Brahma Kumaris, the Iron Age (Kali Yuga) is regarded as hell.

Jainism

17th-century cloth painting depicting seven levels of Jain Hell and various tortures suffered in them. Left panel depicts the demi-god and his animal vehicle presiding over each Hell.

In Jain cosmology, Naraka (translated as hell) is the name given to realm of existence having great suffering. However, a Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as the result of a divine judgment and punishment. Furthermore, length of a being’s stay in a Naraka is not eternal, though it is usually very long and measured in billions of years. A soul is born into a Naraka as a direct result of his or her previous karma (actions of body, speech and mind), and resides there for a finite length of time until his karma has achieved its full result. After his karma is used up, he may be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of an earlier karma that had not yet ripened.

The hells are situated in the seven grounds at the lower part of the universe. The seven grounds are:

  1. Ratna prabha
  2. Sharkara prabha
  3. Valuka prabha
  4. Panka prabha
  5. Dhuma prabha
  6. Tamaha prabha
  7. Mahatamaha prabha

The hellish beings are a type of souls which are residing in these various hells. They are born in hells by sudden manifestation.[135] The hellish beings possess vaikriya body (protean body which can transform itself and take various forms). They have a fixed life span (ranging from ten thousand to billions of years) in the respective hells where they reside. According to Jain scripture, Tattvarthasutra, following are the causes for birth in hell:[136]

  1. Killing or causing pain with intense passion
  2. Excessive attachment to things and worldly pleasure with constantly indulging in cruel and violent acts
  3. Vowless and unrestrained life[137]

Meivazhi

According to Meivazhi, the purpose of all religions is to guide people to heaven.[138] However, those who do not approach God and are not blessed by Him are believed to be condemned to hell.[139]

Sikhism

In Sikh thought, heaven and hell are not places for living hereafter, they are part of spiritual topography of man and do not exist otherwise. They refer to good and evil stages of life respectively and can be lived now and here during our earthly existence.[140] For example, Guru Arjan explains that people who are entangled in emotional attachment and doubt are living in hell on this Earth i.e. their life is hellish.

So many are being drowned in emotional attachment and doubt; they dwell in the most horrible hell.

— Guru Arjan, Guru Granth Sahib 297[141]

Taoism

Ancient Taoism had no concept of hell, as morality was seen to be a man-made distinction and there was no concept of an immaterial soul. In its home country China, where Taoism adopted tenets of other religions, popular belief endows Taoist hell with many deities and spirits who punish sin in a variety of horrible ways.

Chinese folk beliefs

Main article: Diyu

A Chinese glazed earthenware sculpture of «Hell’s torturer», 16th century, Ming Dynasty

Diyu is the realm of the dead in Chinese mythology. It is very loosely based upon the Buddhist concept of Naraka combined with traditional Chinese afterlife beliefs and a variety of popular expansions and re-interpretations of these two traditions. Ruled by Yanluo Wang, the King of hell, Diyu is a maze of underground levels and chambers where souls are taken to atone for their earthly sins.

Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional Chinese folk religion, Diyu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. There are many deities associated with the place, whose names and purposes are the subject of much conflicting information.

The exact number of levels in Chinese hell – and their associated deities – differs according to the Buddhist or Taoist perception. Some speak of three to four ‘Courts’, other as many as ten. The ten judges are also known as the 10 Kings of Yama. Each Court deals with a different aspect of atonement. For example, murder is punished in one Court, adultery in another. According to some Chinese legends, there are eighteen levels in hell. Punishment also varies according to belief, but most legends speak of highly imaginative chambers where wrong-doers are sawn in half, beheaded, thrown into pits of filth or forced to climb trees adorned with sharp blades.

However, most legends agree that once a soul (usually referred to as a ‘ghost’) has atoned for their deeds and repented, he or she is given the Drink of Forgetfulness by Meng Po and sent back into the world to be reborn, possibly as an animal or a poor or sick person, for further punishment.

Other religions

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism has historically suggested several possible fates for the wicked, including annihilation, purgation in molten metal, and eternal punishment, all of which have standing in Zoroaster’s writings. Zoroastrian eschatology includes the belief that wicked souls will remain in Duzakh until, following the arrival of three saviors at thousand-year intervals, Ahura Mazda reconciles the world, destroying evil and resurrecting tormented souls to perfection.[142]

The sacred Gathas mention a «House of the Lie″ for those «that are of an evil dominion, of evil deeds, evil words, evil Self, and evil thought, Liars».[143] However, the best-known Zoroastrian text to describe hell in detail is the Book of Arda Viraf.[144] It depicts particular punishments for particular sins—for instance, being trampled by cattle as punishment for neglecting the needs of work animals.[145] Other descriptions can be found in the Book of Scriptures (Hadhokht Nask), Religious Judgments (Dadestan-i Denig) and the Book of the Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom (Mainyo-I-Khard).[146]

Mandaeism

The Mandaeans believe in purification of souls inside of Leviathan,[147] whom they also call Ur.[148] Within detention houses, so called Matartas,[149] the detained souls would receive so much punishment that they would wish to die a Second death, which would, however, not (yet) befall their spirit.[150] At the end of days, the souls of the Mandaeans which could be purified, would be liberated out of Ur’s mouth.[151] After this, Ur would get destroyed along with the souls remaining inside him,[152] so they die the second death.[153]

Wicca

The Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca sects of Wicca include «wiccan laws» that Gerald Gardner wrote, which state that wiccan souls are privileged with reincarnation, but that the souls of wiccans who break the wiccan laws, «even under torture», would be cursed by the goddess, never be reborn on earth, and «remain where they belong, in the Hell of the Christians».[154][155] Other recognized wiccan sects do not include Gerald Gardner’s «wiccan laws». The influential wiccan author Raymond Buckland wrote that the wiccan laws are unimportant. Solitary wiccans, not involved in organized sects, do not include the wiccan laws in their doctrine.

In literature

In his Divina commedia (Divine Comedy), set in the year 1300, Dante Alighieri employed the concept of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of Purgatorio). Virgil himself is not condemned to hell proper in Dante’s poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to Limbo just at the edge of hell. The geography of hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into Earth, and deeper into the various punishments of hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory.

John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) opens with the fallen angels, including their leader Satan, waking up in hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon heaven through the corruption of the human race. 19th-century French poet Arthur Rimbaud alluded to the concept as well in the title and themes of one of his major works, A Season in Hell (1873). Rimbaud’s poetry portrays his own suffering in a poetic form as well as other themes.

Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in hell. In the Roman poet Virgil’s Latin epic, the Aeneid, Aeneas descends into Dis (the underworld) to visit his father’s spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysian Fields.

The idea of hell was highly influential to writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre who authored the 1944 play No Exit about the idea that «Hell is other people». Although not a religious man, Sartre was fascinated by his interpretation of a hellish state of suffering. C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce (1945) borrows its title from William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through hell and heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven’s offer, and a journey to heaven reveals that hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself.

In popular culture

Piers Anthony in his series Incarnations of Immortality portrays examples of heaven and hell via Death, Fate, Underworld, Nature, War, Time, Good-God, and Evil-Devil. Robert A. Heinlein offers a yin-yang version of hell where there is still some good within; most evident in his 1984 book Job: A Comedy of Justice. Lois McMaster Bujold uses her five Gods ‘Father, Mother, Son, Daughter and Bastard’ in The Curse of Chalion with an example of hell as formless chaos. Michael Moorcock is one of many who offer Chaos-Evil-(Hell) and Uniformity-Good-(Heaven) as equally unacceptable extremes which must be held in balance; in particular in the Elric and Eternal Champion series. Fredric Brown wrote a number of fantasy short stories about Satan’s activities in hell. Cartoonist Jimmy Hatlo created a series of cartoons about life in hell called The Hatlo Inferno, which ran from 1953 to 1958.[156]

See also

  • Appeal to fear
  • Damnation
  • Divine retribution
  • Harrowing of Hell
  • Problem of Hell
  • The Well to Hell hoax

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  81. ^ «4.9 Hell». The Christadelphians. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  82. ^ Hirsch, Emil G. «SHEOL». JewishEncyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  83. ^ Bedore, Th.D., W. Edward (September 2007). «Hell, Sheol, Hades, Paradise, and the Grave». Berean Bible Society. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  84. ^ Knight (1999), A brief history of Seventh-Day Adventists, p. 42, Many biblical scholars down throughout history, looking at the issue through Hebrew rather than Greek eyes, have denied the teaching of innate immortality.
  85. ^ Pool 1998, p. 133: ‘Various concepts of conditional immortality or annihilationism have appeared earlier in Baptist history as well. Several examples illustrate this claim. General as well as particular Baptists developed versions of annihilationism or conditional immortality.’
  86. ^ Stephen A. State Thomas Hobbes and the Debate Over Natural Law and Religion 2013 «The natural immortality of the soul is in fact a pagan presumption: «For men being generally possessed before the time of our Saviour, by contagion of the Daemonology of the Greeks, of an opinion, that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead»
  87. ^ N. T. Wright For All the Saints?: Remembering the Christian Departed 2004 «many readers will get the impression that I believe that every human being comes already equipped with an immortal soul. I don’t believe that. Immortality is a gift of God in Christ, not an innate human capacity (see 1 Timothy 6.16).»
  88. ^ «Vatican: Pope did not say there is no hell». BBC News. 30 March 2018. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  89. ^ 1033
  90. ^ 1035
  91. ^ GENERAL AUDIENCE 28 July 1999, archived from the original on 13 November 2016
  92. ^ «Fundamental Beliefs Archived 10 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine» (1980) webpage from the official church website. See «25. Second Coming of Christ», «26. Death and Resurrection», «27. Millennium and the End of Sin», and «28. New Earth». The earlier 1872 and 1931 statements also support conditionalism
  93. ^ Samuele Bacchiocchi, «Hell: Eternal Torment or Annihilation? Archived 16 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine» chapter 6 in Immortality Or Resurrection?. Biblical Perspectives, 1997; ISBN 1-930987-12-9, ISBN 978-1-930987-12-8[page needed]
  94. ^ a b c «What Does the Bible Really Teach?», 2005, Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses
  95. ^ «Insight on the scriptures, Volume 2», 1988, Published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
  96. ^ «What is Christian Universalism?». Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017. What is Christian Universalism by Ken Allen Th.D
  97. ^ New Bible Dictionary, «Hell», InterVarsity Press, 1996.
  98. ^ New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, «Hell», InterVarsity Press, 2000.
  99. ^ Evangelical Alliance Commission on Truth and Unity Among Evangelicals, The Nature of Hell, Paternoster, 2000.
  100. ^ Swedenborg, E. Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen(Swedenborg Foundation, 1946 #545ff.)
  101. ^ Swedenborg, E. The True Christian Religion Containing the Universal Theology of The New Church Foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7; 13, 14; and in Revelation 21; 1, 2 (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946, #489ff.).
  102. ^ offTheLeftEye: The Good Thing About Hell — Swedenborg and Life, YouTube.com, 14 March 2016.
  103. ^ «Doctrine and Covenants 19».
  104. ^ Spencer W. Kimball: The Miracle of Forgivness, p. 123.
  105. ^ a b c d e f Lange, Christian (2016). «Introducing Hell in Islamic Studies». In Lange, Christian (ed.). Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions. Brill. pp. 1–28. doi:10.1163/9789004301368_002. ISBN 978-90-04-30121-4. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.7.
  106. ^ Qur’an 7:179 Qur’an 7:179 Archived 17 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  107. ^ Varza, Bahram. 2016. Thought-Provoking Scientific Reflections on Religion. New York: BOD Publisher
  108. ^ «A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction». Religion of Islam. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  109. ^ a b «Islamic Beliefs about the Afterlife». Religion Facts. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  110. ^ Thomassen, Einar (2009). «Islamic Hell». Numen. 56 (2/3): 401–416. doi:10.1163/156852709X405062. JSTOR 27793798.
  111. ^ «Feuer».
  112. ^ a b Emerick, Yahiya (2011). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Islam (3rd ed.). Penguin. ISBN 9781101558812.
  113. ^ «A Description of Hellfire (part 1 of 5): An Introduction». Religion of Islam. Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014. No one will come out of Hell except sinful believers who believed in the Oneness of God in this life and believed in the specific prophet sent to them (before the coming of Muhammad).
  114. ^ Muslim Scholarly Discussions on Salvation and the Fate of ‘Others’ , Mohammad Hassan Khalil, p.223 «The Fitnah of Wealth», Abû Ammâr Yasir al-Qadhî
  115. ^ Encyclopedia of World Religions. Encyclopædia Britannica Store. 2008. p. 421. ISBN 9781593394912.
  116. ^ Gordon Newby A Concise Encyclopedia of Islam Oneworld Publications 2013 ISBN 978-1-780-74477-3
  117. ^ Robert Lebling Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar I.B.Tauris 2010 ISBN 978-0-857-73063-3 page 30
  118. ^ ANTON M. HEINEN ISLAMIC COSMOLOGY A STUDY OF AS-SUYUTI’S al-Hay’a as-samya fi l-hay’a as-sunmya with critical edition, translation, and commentary ANTON M. HEINEN BEIRUT 1982 p. 143
  119. ^ Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 Vols.): Volume 1: Foundations and Formation of a Tradition. Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought / Volume 2: Continuity and Change. The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World. (2017). Niederlande: Brill. p. 174
  120. ^ A F Klein Religion Of Islam Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-136-09954-0 page 92
  121. ^ see Quran 5:72: 5:72 Archived 20 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  122. ^ Lazarus, William P. (2011). Comparative Religion For Dummies. Wiley. p. 287. ISBN 9781118052273.
  123. ^ Christiane Gruber The Ilkhanid Book of Ascension: A Persian-Sunni Devotional Tale I.B.Tauris 2010 ISBN 978-0-857-71809-9 page 54
  124. ^ a b c Colby, Frederick (2016). «Fire in the Upper Heavens: Locating Hell in Middle Period Narratives of Muḥammad’s Ascension». In Lange, Christian (ed.). Locating Hell in Islamic Traditions. Brill. pp. 124–143. doi:10.1163/9789004301368_007. ISBN 978-90-04-30121-4. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1w3.12.
  125. ^ Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad’s Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ‘Abbas Ascension Discourse. USA: State University of New York Press. p. 137
  126. ^ Colby, F. S. (2008). Narrating Muhammad’s Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ‘Abbas Ascension Discourse. USA: State University of New York Press. p. 138
  127. ^ Lange, C. (2016). Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions. Vereinigtes Königreich: Cambridge University Press.
  128. ^ Vuckovic, Brooke Olson (2004). Heavenly Journeys, Earthly Concerns: The Legacy of the Mi’raj in the Formation of Islam. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-88524-3.[page needed]
  129. ^ Miguel Asin Palacios Islam and the Divine Comedy Routledge 2013 ISBN
    978-1-134-53650-4 page 88-89
  130. ^ Patrick Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes Dictionary of Islam Asian Educational Services 1995 ISBN 9788120606722 p. 102
  131. ^ Tottoli, Roberto; ‮توتولي‬, ‮روبرتو‬ (2008). «The Qur’an, Qur’anic Exegesis and Muslim Traditions: The Case of zamharīr (Q. 76:13) Among Hell’s Punishments / ‮القرآن والتفاسير والروايات الاسلامية: سورة الانسان آية رقم‬ 13: الزمهرير من ألوان العقوبة في جهنم‬». Journal of Qur’anic Studies. 10 (1): 142–152. doi:10.3366/E1465359109000291. JSTOR 25728276.
  132. ^ Masumian, Farnaz (1995). Life After Death: A study of the afterlife in world religions. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1-85168-074-0.
  133. ^ Baháʼu’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu’lláh, ed. by US Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1990, pp. 155-156.
  134. ^ Helmuth von Glasenapp: Der Hinduismus. Religion und Gesellschaft im heutigen Indien, Hildesheim 1978, p. 248.
  135. ^ Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974). Commentary on Tattvārthasūtra of Vācaka Umāsvāti. trans. by K. K. Dixit. Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology. pp. 107
  136. ^ Sanghvi, Sukhlal (1974) pp.250–52
  137. ^ refer Mahavrata for the vows and restraints in Jainism
  138. ^ மரணம் நீக்க ஜீவ மருந்து: 9. Gods plan, YouTube, 3 August 2018.
  139. ^ Meivazhi — The True Path, angelfire.com/ms/Salai/TruePath.html.
  140. ^ Singh, Jagraj (2009). A Complete Guide to Sikhism. Unistar Books. p. 271. ISBN 978-8-1714-2754-3. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017.
  141. ^ «Sri Granth: Sri Guru Granth Sahib». Archived from the original on 3 September 2017.
  142. ^ Meredith Sprunger. «An Introduction to Zoroastrianism». Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  143. ^ Yasna 49:11, «Avesta: Yasna». Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2008.
  144. ^ Eileen Gardiner (10 February 2006). «About Zoroastrian Hell». Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  145. ^ Chapter 75, «The Book of Arda Viraf». Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  146. ^ Eileen Gardiner (18 January 2009). «Zoroastrian Hell Texts». Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  147. ^ Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer, ed. and transl. by Mark Lidzbarski, part 2, Gießen 1915, p. 98–99.
  148. ^ Hans Jonas: The Gnostic Religion, 3. ed., Boston 2001, p. 117.
  149. ^ Ginza. Der Schatz oder das große Buch der Mandäer, ed. and transl. by Mark Lidzbarski, Quellen der Religionsgeschichte vol. 13, Göttingen 1925, p. 183.
  150. ^ Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 185–186.
  151. ^ Kurt Rudolph: Theogonie. Kosmonogie und Anthropogonie in den mandäischen Schriften. Eine literarkritische und traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung, Göttingen 1965, p. 241.
  152. ^ Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 203.
  153. ^ Ginza, ed. and transl. by Lidzbarski, p. 321.
  154. ^ Gerald Gardner, The Gardnerian Book of Shadows
  155. ^ Alex Sanders, The Alexandrian Book of Shadows
  156. ^ Sample Hatlo Inferno comic: Archived 15 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

  • Bellarmine, Robert (1902). «Fifth Sunday: Hell» . Sermons from the Latins. Benziger Brothers.
  • Boston, Thomas. Hell. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-748-5
  • Bunyan, John. A Few Sighs from Hell (Or The Groans of the Damned Soul). Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-727-0
  • Challoner, Richard (1801). «Day 13: On hell.» . Think Well On’t or, Reflections on the great truths of the Christian religion for every day of the month. T. Haydock.
  • Edwards, Jonathan. The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners. Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-672-3
  • Hontheim, Joseph (1910). «Hell» . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Gardiner, Eileen. Visions of Heaven and Hell before Dante. New York: Italica Press, 1989. ISBN 0-934977-14-3
  • Liguori, Alphonus (1882). «Sermon X.—Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany: On the pains of hell» . Sermons for all the Sundays in the year. Dublin.
  • Loftus, John W. (2008). «Hell? No!». Why I became an atheist. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-59102-592-4.
  • Metzger, Bruce M.; Michael D. Coogan, eds. (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504645-8.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Hell.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hell.

Look up hell in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

  • Hell on In Our Time at the BBC
  • «Heaven and Hell in Christian Thought» entry by Thomas Talbott in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • «Hell-on-line».
  • A cultural history of Hell in The Fortnightly Review
  • Atheist Foundation of Australia – 666 words about hell.
  • The Jehovah’s Witnesses perspective
  • Dying, Yamaraja and Yamadutas + terminal restlessness
  • example Buddhist Hells
  • Swedenborg, E. Heaven and its Wonders and Hell. From Things Heard and Seen (Swedenborg Foundation, 1946)
  • Maps of hell at the «Hell and Heaven» subject, the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection, Cornell University Library
  • Collection: Heaven, Hell, and Afterlives from the University of Michigan Museum of Art

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • (Christianity): Hell
  • hel (17th century)
  • helle

Pronunciation[edit]

  • enPR: hĕl, IPA(key): /hɛl/
  • Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English helle, from Old English hell, from Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō (concealed place, netherworld), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (to cover, conceal, save). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hälle (hell), West Frisian hel (hell), Dutch hel (hell), German Low German Hell (hell), German Hölle (hell), Norwegian helvete (hell), Icelandic hel (the abode of the dead, death). Also related to the Hel of Germanic mythology. See also hele.

Proper noun[edit]

hell

  1. (in many religions, uncountable) A place of torment where some or all sinners and evil spirits are believed to go after death.

    May you rot in hell!

    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

      Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.

    • 1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. [], London: [] Jacob Tonson, [], →OCLC, Act III, page 39:

      Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn’d.

    • 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

      Hell is a strait and dark and foul-smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke.

Synonyms[edit]
  • See Thesaurus:afterlife
Antonyms[edit]
  • (in many religions, uncountable): heaven
Translations[edit]

abode for the condemned

  • Afrikaans: hel
  • Aghwan: 𐔲𐔴𐕆𐔴𐕎𐔰 (gehena)
  • Albanian: ferr (sq), skëterrë (sq)
  • Arabic: جَهَنَّم‎ f (jahannam), جَحِيم‎ m (jaḥīm)
    Egyptian Arabic: جهنّم‎ f (gahannam)
  • Aramaic:
    Classical Syriac: ܓܝܗܢܐ‎ f (gêhannā)
  • Armenian: դժոխք (hy) (džoxkʿ)
  • Assamese: নৰক (norok)
  • Asturian: infiernu m
  • Avar: жужахӏ (žužaḥʳ)
  • Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬊𐬲𐬀𐬢𐬵(daožaŋh), 𐬛𐬀𐬊𐬲𐬀𐬎𐬎𐬀(daožauua)
  • Azerbaijani: cəhənnəm (az)
    Cyrillic: ҹәһәннәм
  • Baluchi: دوزه(dōzē)
  • Bashkir: тамуҡ (tamuq), йәһәннәм (yähännäm)
  • Basque: infernu
  • Belarusian: ад m (ad), пе́кла n (pjékla)
  • Bengali: জাহান্নাম (jahannam), নরক (norok)
  • Bulgarian: ад (bg) m (ad), пъ́къл (bg) m (pǎ́kǎl)
  • Burmese: နရက် (my) (na.rak), ငရဲ (my) (nga.rai:)
  • Buryat: тама (tama)
  • Catalan: infern (ca) m
  • Chechen: жоьжахати (žöžaxati)
  • Cherokee: ᏨᏍᎩᏃ (tsvsgino)
  • Chinese:
    Mandarin: 地獄地狱 (zh) (dìyù)
  • Chuvash: тамӑк (tamăk)
  • Czech: peklo (cs) n
  • Dalmatian: infiarn m
  • Danish: helvede n
  • Dongxiang: dozohei
  • Dutch: hel (nl)
  • Esperanto: infero
  • Estonian: põrgu (et)
  • Faroese: helviti n
  • Finnish: helvetti (fi), horna (fi)
  • French: enfer (fr) m
  • Friulian: infiêr m
  • Galician: inferno (gl) m
  • Georgian: ჯოჯოხეთი (ǯoǯoxeti)
  • German: Hölle (de) f, Fegefeuer (de) n, Brand (de) m
  • Greek: Κόλαση f (Kólasi), κόλαση (el) f (kólasi)
    Ancient: γέεννα (géenna)
  • Greenlandic: anniarfik
  • Guaraní: añaretã
  • Gujarati: નરક (narak)
  • Hebrew: גֵּיהִנּוֹם (he) m or f (gehinóm)
  • Hindi: नरक (hi) m (narak), जहन्नम (hi) m (jahannam), यमलोक (hi) m (yamlok)
  • Hittite: 𒋼𒂊𒈾𒌋𒉿𒀸 c (tēnawaš)
  • Hungarian: pokol (hu)
  • Hawaiian: kehena
  • White Hmong: ntuj raug txim
  • Icelandic: helviti n
  • Ido: inferno (io)
  • Indonesian: neraka (id)
  • Interlingua: inferno
  • Irish: ifreann (ga)
    Old Irish: ifernn m
  • Italian: inferno (it) m
  • Japanese: 地獄 (ja) (じごく, jigoku), 魔界 (まかい, makai), 奈落 (ja) (ならく, naraku)
  • Kalmyk: там (tam)
  • Kannada: ನರಕ (kn) (naraka)
  • Kazakh: жаһаннам (jahannam), тозақ (kk) (tozaq)
  • Khmer: ឋាននរក (thaan nɔrŭək), នរក (km) (nɔrŭək), នរកកុណ្ឌ (km) (nĕəʼrĕəʼkaʼkon), និរៃ (nirɨy)
  • Korean: 지옥(地獄) (ko) (jiok)
  • Kurdish:
    Central Kurdish: جەھەنەم (ckb) (cehenem), دۆزەخ (ckb) (dozex)
    Northern Kurdish: dûjeh (ku), cehnem (ku)
  • Kyrgyz: тозок (ky) (tozok), жаанам (jaanam), жаханнам (ky) (jahannam) (rare)
  • Lao: ນະລົກ (na lok), ນະຣົກ (na rok)
  • Latgalian: eļne
  • Latin: infernum n, Tartarus (la) m; gehenna
  • Latvian: elle f, pekle f
  • Lithuanian: pragaras m
  • Low German: Helle f
  • Luxembourgish: Häll f
  • Macedonian: пекол m (pekol)
  • Maguindanao: naraka
  • Malay: neraka
  • Malayalam: നരകം (ml) (narakaṃ)
  • Maltese: infern m
  • Manchu: ᡳᠯᠮᡠᠨ (ilmun)
  • Maore Comorian: moro class 3
  • Maranao: narka’
  • Marathi: नर्क (narka)
  • Middle English: helle
  • Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭥𐭱𐭧𐭥𐭩(dušox)
  • Mongolian: там (mn) (tam)
  • Mwali Comorian: moro class 3
  • Navajo: chʼį́įdiitah
  • Nepali: नरक (narak)
  • Newar: नर्क (narka)
  • Norman: enfé m
  • Northern Sami: helvet
  • Norwegian: helvete (no) n
  • Occitan: infèrn (oc) m
  • Old Church Slavonic:
    Cyrillic: адъ m (adŭ)
  • Old East Slavic: адъ m (adŭ), пекло n (peklo)
  • Old English: hell (ang) f
  • Old Norse: helviti n
  • Old Occitan: Enfern
  • Old Saxon: hel
  • Pali: naraka
  • Pashto: دوزخ (ps) m (dozáx), دوږخ‎ m (doẓáx), دوژخ‎ m (dožáx), جوغاش (ps) m (ǰoǧãš), جاندم (ps) m (ǰāndám), اورګړ‎ m (orgáṛ)
  • Persian: جهنم (fa) (jahannam), دوزخ (fa) (duzax)
  • Plautdietsch: Hal f
  • Polish: piekło (pl) n
  • Portuguese: inferno (pt) m
  • Punjabi: ਨਰਕ (narak)
  • Romanian: iad (ro) n, gheenă (ro) f, infern (ro) n
  • Romansch: enfiern
  • Russian: ад (ru) m (ad), преиспо́дняя (ru) f (preispódnjaja), пе́кло (ru) n (péklo), гее́нна о́гненная f (gejénna ógnennaja)
  • Sanskrit: नरक (sa) m (naraka)
  • Sardinian: iferru
  • Saterland Frisian: Hälle f
  • Scottish Gaelic: Ifrinn f
  • Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic: пакао m, ад m, џехенем m
    Roman: pakao (sh) m, ad m, džehenem (sh) m
  • Sicilian: nfernu (scn) m
  • Sinhalese: නිරය (niraya)
  • Slovak: peklo n
  • Slovene: pekel (sl) m
  • Sorbian:
    Lower Sorbian: hela f, pjakło n
    Upper Sorbian: hela f
  • Southern Altai: таамы (taamï)
  • Spanish: infierno (es) m
  • Swedish: helvete (sv) n
  • Tabasaran: жегьеннем (žehennem)
  • Tagalog: impiyerno
  • Tajik: дӯзах (tg) (düzax), ҷаҳаннам (tg) (jahannam)
  • Tamil: நரகம் (ta) (narakam)
  • Tatar: җәһәннәм (tt) (cähännäm)
  • Telugu: నరకం (te) (narakaṁ)
  • Thai: นรก (th) (ná-rók)
  • Tibetan: དམྱལ་བ (dmyal ba)
  • Divehi: ނަރަކަ(naraka)
  • Tocharian B: nrai
  • Turkish: cehennem (tr), tamu (tr)
  • Turkmen: dowzah, jähennem (tk)
  • Udi: джаьгьаьннаьм (ǯähännäm)
  • Udmurt: ад (ad), тамуг (tamug)
  • Ukrainian: ад (uk) m (ad), пе́кло n (péklo)
  • Urdu: جہنم‎ m (jahannam), نرک‎ m (narak), دوزخ(dozax)
  • Uyghur: دوزاخ(dozax), جەھەننەم(jehennem)
  • Uzbek: doʻzax (uz), jahannam (uz)
  • Vietnamese: địa ngục (vi) (地獄)
  • Volapük: höl (vo)
  • Welsh: uffern f
  • West Frisian: hel f
  • Yiddish: גיהנום‎ n (genem), גענעם‎ n (genem)
  • Zazaki: doze m, cahnım (diq) m

Noun[edit]

hell (countable and uncountable, plural hells)

  1. (countable, hyperbolic, figuratively) A place or situation of great suffering in life.

    My new boss is making my job a hell.

    I went through hell to get home today.

    • 1879, General William T. Sherman, commencement address at the Michigan Military Academy

      There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.

    • 1986, Metallica (music), “Disposable Heroes”, in Master of Puppets:

      Why, am I dying? / Kill, have no fear / Lie, live off lying / Hell, hell is here

  2. (countable) A place for gambling.
    • 1877, William Black, Green Pastures and Piccadilly

      a convenient little gambling hell for those who had grown reckless

    • 1906 January–October, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, London: Methuen & Co., [], published 1907, →OCLC; The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Collection of British Authors; 3995), copyright edition, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1907, →OCLC, page 15:

      But there was also about him an indescribable air which no mechanic could have acquired in the practice of his handicraft however dishonestly exercised: […] the air of moral nihilism common to keepers of gambling hells and disorderly houses; […]

  3. (figuratively) An extremely hot place.
  4. (sometimes considered vulgar) Used as an intensifier in phrases grammatically requiring a noun.

    I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.

    He says he’s going home early? Like hell he is.

  5. (obsolete) A place into which a tailor throws shreds, or a printer discards broken type.
    • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. [], London: [] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, [], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

      This sturdy Squire, he had, as well
      As the bold Trojan Knight, seen Hell.

  6. In certain games of chase, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.

  7. (colloquial, with on) Something extremely painful or harmful (to)

    That steep staircase is hell on my knees.

Derived terms[edit]
  • all hell breaks loose
  • as all hell
  • as heck
  • as hell
  • bastard operator from hell
  • bleeding hell
  • bloody hell
  • blooming hell
  • bullet hell
  • burn in hell
  • burn in hell
  • by hell
  • callback hell
  • catch hell
  • chuffing hell
  • come hell or high water
  • dammit to hell
  • dependency hell
  • development hell
  • DLL hell
  • Elo hell
  • for the hell of it
  • forty minutes of hell
  • fresh hell
  • from hell
  • fucking hell
  • gate of hell
  • give someone hell
  • go through hell
  • go to hell
  • harrowing of hell
  • harrying of hell
  • heck if I know
  • heck knows
  • heck yes
  • hell and half of Georgia
  • hell and Tommy
  • hell for leather
  • hell gate
  • hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
  • hell hole
  • hell hound
  • hell house
  • hell if I care
  • hell if I know
  • hell if I know
  • hell knows
  • hell mend someone
  • hell money
  • hell night
  • hell no
  • hell of a
  • hell on earth
  • hell on wheels
  • hell or high water
  • hell strip
  • hell to pay
  • hell to the naw
  • hell to the no
  • hell week
  • hell west and crooked
  • hell yeah
  • hell yes
  • hell yes
  • hell-bent
  • hell-bent for leather
  • hell-born
  • hell-brewed
  • hell-diver
  • hell-fire
  • hell-for-leather
  • hell-hole
  • hell-hound
  • hell-raiser
  • hell-rake
  • hella
  • hellagood
  • hellbender
  • hellburner
  • hellcat
  • hellish
  • hellraiser
  • hell’s delight
  • hellspawn
  • hell’s bells
  • holy hell
  • hot as hell
  • hot hell
  • how the hell
  • I’m going to hell for this
  • in the hell
  • JAR hell
  • king-hell
  • like a bat out of hell
  • like hell
  • like hell you say
  • like merry hell
  • living hell
  • match made in hell
  • no hell
  • no screaming hell
  • oh my hell
  • pave the road to hell
  • play merry hell with
  • raise hell
  • raise unshirted hell
  • rake-hell
  • rot in hell
  • rot in hell
  • see you in hell
  • snowball’s chance in hell
  • snowflake’s chance in hell
  • sodding hell
  • the heck
  • the hell
  • the hell out of
  • the hell with it
  • the hell you say
  • the road to hell is paved with good intentions
  • to hell and gone
  • to hell in a handbasket
  • to hell in a handcart
  • to hell with
  • until hell freezes over
  • war is hell
  • welcome to hell
  • what the heck
  • what the hell
  • where the heck
  • where the hell
  • who the heck
  • who the hell
Translations[edit]

place of suffering in life

  • Albanian: skëterrë (sq)
  • Arabic: جَحِيم(jaḥīm), جَهَنَّم‎ f (jahannam)
  • Armenian: դժոխք (hy) (džoxkʿ)
  • Asturian: infiernu m
  • Atong (India): norok
  • Bashkir: тамуҡ (tamuq), йәһәннәм (yähännäm)
  • Chuvash: тамӑк (tamăk)
  • Czech: peklo (cs) n
  • Dutch: hel (nl)
  • Esperanto: infero
  • Estonian: põrgu (et)
  • Finnish: helvetti (fi)
  • French: enfer (fr) m
  • Georgian: ჯოჯოხეთი (ǯoǯoxeti)
  • German: Hölle (de) f
  • Greek: κόλαση (el) f (kólasi)
  • Hungarian: pokol (hu)
  • Indonesian: neraka (id)
  • Interlingua: inferno
  • Irish: ifreann (ga) m
  • Italian: inferno (it) m
  • Japanese: 地獄 (ja) (じごく, jigoku)
  • Kazakh: тамұқ (tamūq), жаһаннам (jahannam)
  • Korean: 지옥(地獄) (ko) (jiok)
  • Latvian: elle f
  • Lithuanian: pragaras m
  • Northern Sami: helvet
  • Norwegian: helvete (no) n
  • Oromo: jaannama
  • Persian: جهنم (fa) (jahannam)
  • Polish: piekło (pl) n
  • Portuguese: inferno (pt) m
  • Russian: ад (ru) m (ad)
  • Saterland Frisian: Hälle f
  • Scottish Gaelic: Ifrinn f
  • Serbo-Croatian:
    Cyrillic: пакао m, ад m
    Roman: pakao (sh) m, ad m
  • Sicilian: nfernu (scn) m
  • Slovak: peklo n
  • Spanish: infierno (es) m
  • Swahili: motoni, jahanamu
  • Swedish: helvete (sv) n
  • Telugu: నరకం (te) (narakaṁ)
  • Turkish: cehennem (tr), tamu (tr)
  • Volapük: höl (vo)
  • West Frisian: Hel f

Interjection[edit]

hell

  1. (impolite, sometimes considered vulgar) Used to express discontent, unhappiness, or anger.

    Oh, hell! I got another parking ticket.

    • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:

      O hell! what have we here?
      A carrion Death, within whose empty eye
      There is a written scroll! []

  2. (impolite, sometimes considered vulgar, non-productive) Used to emphasize.

    Hell, yeah!

  3. (impolite, sometimes considered vulgar) Used to introduce an intensified statement following an understated one; nay; not only that, but.

    Do it, or, rest assured, there will be no more Middle Eastern crisis – hell, there will be no more Middle East!

Derived terms[edit]
  • hell’s bells
  • hell no
  • hells
  • hell yes, hell yeah, hells yeah
Translations[edit]

hell!

  • Danish: helvede!
  • Finnish: helvetti! (fi)
  • French: merde (fr)
  • German: zur Hölle!, Himmel! (de) m, Teufel! (de) m
  • Hebrew: לעזאזל! (he) (la’azazél)
  • Icelandic: helvítis!
  • Japanese: 畜生 (ja) (ちくしょう, chikushō),  (ja) (くそ, kuso)
  • Northern Sami: helvet!
  • Norwegian: helvete! (no)
  • Russian: чёрт (ru) (čort)
  • Spanish: carajo! (es), mierda! (es)
  • Swedish: helvete! (sv)
See also[edit]
  • damn
  • heck

Adverb[edit]

hell (not comparable)

  1. (postpositional) Alternative form of the hell or like hell.
    • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, →OCLC, page 35:

      ‘I know whether a boy is telling me the truth or not.’
      ‘Thank you, sir.’
      Did he hell. They never bloody did.

  2. (Australia, impolite, sometimes considered vulgar) Very; used to emphasize strongly.

    That was hell good!

    They’re hell sexy.

Etymology 2[edit]

From German hellen (to brighten, burnish). Related to Dutch hel (clear, bright) and German hell (clear, bright).

Verb[edit]

hell (third-person singular simple present hells, present participle helling, simple past and past participle helled)

  1. (rare, metal-working) To add luster to; to burnish (silver or gold).
    • 1770, Godfrey Smith, The Laboratory: Or, School of Arts
      To hell gold or gilt workː take two ounces of tartar, two ounces of sulfur.. and it will give it a fine luster.
References[edit]
  • A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Etymology 3[edit]

From Old Norse hella (to pour). Cognate with Icelandic hella (to pour), Norwegian helle (to pour), Swedish hälla (to pour). See also hield.

Verb[edit]

hell (third-person singular simple present hells, present participle helling, simple past and past participle helled)

  1. (rare) To pour.
    • 18th century, unknown author, The Harvest or Bashful Shepherd
      Gosh, the sickle went into me handː Down hell’d the bluid.
References[edit]
  • A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Albanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Albanian *skōla, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kol- (stake); compare Lithuanian kuõlas, Polish kół, Ancient Greek σκύλος (skúlos).

Noun[edit]

hell m (indefinite plural heje, definite singular helli, definite plural hejet)

  1. skewer
  2. spear
  3. icicle
  4. (adverb) standing straight without moving

Cornish[edit]

Noun[edit]

hell

  1. Aspirate mutation of kell.

Estonian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Finnic *hellä. Cognate to Finnish hellä and Votic elle.

Adjective[edit]

hell (genitive hella, partitive hella, comparative hellem, superlative kõige hellem)

  1. tender, gentle

Declension[edit]

Declension of hell (type külm)

German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German hel (resounding, loud, shining, bright), from Old High German hel (resounding), from Proto-Germanic *halliz (resounding), from Proto-Germanic *hellaną (to resound, make a sound), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (to call, make noise). Cognate with Dutch hel.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /hɛl/

Adjective[edit]

hell (strong nominative masculine singular heller, comparative heller, superlative am hellsten)

  1. clear, bright, light
    Antonym: dunkel
    • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Orgelpfeifen, in: Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun. Verlag, page 9:

      So dunkel und schauerlich die Gruft aussah, wenn man durch die blinden, bestaubten Scheibchen der kleinen Fenster hineinblickte, so hell und freundlich war oben die Kirche.

      Just as dark and eerie the crypt looked like, if one looked in it through the cloudy, dusted little panes of the small windows, as bright and friendly was the church above.

Declension[edit]

Comparative forms of hell

Superlative forms of hell

Derived terms[edit]

  • hellhörig
  • hellsichtig

[edit]

  • sternenhell
  • taghell

Further reading[edit]

  • “hell” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “hell” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “hell” in Duden online

Luxembourgish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old High German hel, related to the verb hellan, from Proto-Germanic *hellaną (to resound). Cognate with German helle, Dutch hel.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /hæl/
  • Rhymes: -æl
  • Homophone: Häll

Adjective[edit]

hell (masculine hellen, neuter hellt, comparative méi hell, superlative am hellsten)

  1. clear, bright
  2. light, pale

Declension[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Proper noun[edit]

hell

  1. Alternative form of helle

Noun[edit]

hell

  1. Alternative form of helle

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse heill.

Noun[edit]

hell n (definite singular hellet, indefinite plural hell, definite plural hella or hellene)

  1. luck

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb[edit]

hell

  1. imperative of helle

Further reading[edit]

  • “hell” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Ultimately from Old Norse heill.

Noun[edit]

hell n (definite singular hellet, indefinite plural hell, definite plural hella)

  1. luck

Further reading[edit]

  • “hell” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • hel

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *hallju, from Proto-Germanic *haljō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (to cover, hide, conceal).

Compare German hell (light).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /xell/, [heɫ]

Noun[edit]

hell f

  1. hell

Declension[edit]

Declension of hell (strong ō-stem)

Derived terms[edit]

  • hellewīte

Descendants[edit]

  • Middle English: helle, hel, hell; hælle
    • English: hell, Hell
    • Scots: hell, Hell

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Swedish heel, from Old Norse heill (good omen, luck, literally whole, healthy). Doublet of hel.

Interjection[edit]

hell

  1. (archaic) hail (exclamation or greeting)

Derived terms[edit]

  • hell seger (Sieg Heil)

References[edit]

  • hell in Svensk ordbok (SO)
  • hell in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
  • hell in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

ад, преисподняя, притон, игорный дом

существительное

- ад, преисподняя

to make smb.’s life a hell — образн. превратить чью-л. жизнь в ад
to suffer /to go/ through hell — образн. переносить муки ада

- игорный дом; притон
- дешёвый ресторан или бар
- что-л. очень сложное или неприятное; мука
- ящик, куда портной бросает обрезки
- полигр. ящик для сломанных литер
- амер. печь для сжигания отходов производства (на лесозаводах и т. п.)

глагол

- разг. гулять, кутить (обыкн. hell around)
- мчаться, нестись

междометие

- чёрт

oh hell! — чёрт возьми!
Bloody hell! — прост. проклятье!, чёрт возьми!

Мои примеры

Словосочетания

beat the living hell out of him — выбить к чёрту дух из него  
black as hell (night, pitch, my hat) — тьма кромешная  
the devil (and hell) to pay — куча неприятностей, всевозможные беды  
a hell of a team — отличная команда  
hell of a way — чертовски далеко  
hell of a noise — адский шум  
be hell-bent for leather — чертовски быстро  
heaven-or-hell bond — двухвалютная облигация, основная сумма которой изменяется в зависимости от изменения валютного курса  
a hell of a comedown! — дьявольски не повезло!; чертовская неудача!  
casted down into hell — ввергнутый в ад  
casted into hell — ввергнутый в ад  

Примеры с переводом

Bloody hell!

прост. проклятье!, чёрт возьми!

War is hell.

Война — это ад.

My mother made my life hell.

Мать превратила мою жизнь в ад.

Who the hell are you?

кто ты такой, чёрт (тебя) побери?

My new shoes hurt like hell.

От моих новых туфлей ноги болят просто адски.

My shoulder hurts like hell.

Моё плечо ужасно /адски/ болит.

To hell with the flaming place!

К черту это ужасное место!

ещё 23 примера свернуть

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

• ‘You keep out of this, Ma.’ ‘Like hell I will.’

They don’t have a hope in hell of winning.

• If I had your problems, I’d be mad as hell.

Для того чтобы добавить вариант перевода, кликните по иконке , напротив примера.

Возможные однокоренные слова

heller  — геллер
hellion  — озорник, беспокойный человек, шаловливый ребенок, непослушный ребенок
hellish  — адский, отвратительный, злобный, противный, бесчеловечный, дьявольский

1

a(1)

: a nether world in which the dead continue to exist : hades

(2)

: the nether realm of the devil and the demons in which condemned people suffer everlasting punishment

often used in curses or as a generalized term of abuse

2

a

: a place or state of misery, torment, or wickedness

war is hellW. T. Sherman

b

: a place or state of turmoil or destruction

c

: a severe scolding

also

: flak, grief

gave me hell for coming in late

d

: unrestrained fun or sportiveness

the kids were full of hell


often used in the phrase for the hell of it especially to suggest action on impulse or without a serious motive

decided to go for the hell of it

e

: an extremely unpleasant and often inescapable situation

3

archaic

: a tailor’s receptacle

4


used as an interjection or as an intensive

hurts like hellfunny as hell

often used in the phrase hell of a

it was one hell of a good fight

or hell out of

scared the hell out of him

or with the or in

moved way the hell up northwhat in hell is wrong, now?

Phrases

from hell

: being the worst or most dreadful of its kind

hell on

: very hard on or destructive to

the constant traveling is hell on your digestive system

hell or high water

: difficulties of whatever kind or size

will stand by her convictions come hell or high water

hell to pay

: dire consequences

if he’s late there’ll be hell to pay

what the hell


used interjectionally to express a lack of concern about consequences or risks

it might cost him half his estate … but what the hellN. W. Aldrich born 1935

Synonyms

Example Sentences



Getting the loan approved was pure hell.



He went through hell during his divorce.



She had to go through hell to get where she is today.



Living with the disease can be a hell on earth.



The pain has made her life a living hell.

Recent Examples on the Web

Most often, that tactic works—FOMO, if not the actual love and appreciation of experiential learning, is a hell of a ticket-seller.


Janelle Harris Dixon, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Feb. 2023





The film has been in development hell since the ’90s, and has wasted the time of the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan, Keanu Reeves, and the Hughes brothers.


Vulture, 29 Jan. 2023





In a household where their mother justifies unspeakable acts of abuse with perverse religious beliefs, four siblings are stuck in a hell on Earth.


Milan Polk, Men’s Health, 26 Jan. 2023





This was a hell of a good deal for Amazon’s customers.


WIRED, 23 Jan. 2023





That showdown didn’t come to fruition for an entire decade, as the film languished in development hell.


Brendan Morrow, The Week, 13 Jan. 2023





The James Webb Space Telescope remained in development hell.


Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2023





Ted Danson on The Good Place Even though NBC’s The Good Place was set in hell, the comedy series showcased Danson’s heavenly comic timing.


Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 29 Dec. 2022





After years in development hell, Screen Gems relinquished the rights.


Alex Barasch, The New Yorker, 26 Dec. 2022



See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘hell.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English helle, going back to Old English hell, helle, going back to Germanic *haljō (whence also Old Saxon hellia «abode of the dead,» Old High German hella, hellia, Old Norse hel «abode of the dead, the death goddess,» Gothic halja, translating Greek Háidēs), perhaps from an o-grade nominal derivative of the Germanic verbal base *hel- «cover, hide» — more at conceal

Note:
The connection with *hel- «conceal» is traditional in the etymological literature, though given that the literal meaning of *haljō, the mythological abode of the dead, is unknown, it must be regarded as speculative.

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a(1)

Time Traveler

The first known use of hell was
before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near hell

Cite this Entry

“Hell.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hell. Accessed 14 Apr. 2023.

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Merriam-Webster unabridged

hell — перевод на русский

/hɛl/

Go to hell!

Ну и черт с тобой!

Hell knows.

Чёрт его знает.

Hell, I’d be a laughing stock!

Чёрт, да я стану посмешищем!

Показать ещё примеры для «чёрт»…

Threatening the Reaper and acting like that… there will be no trial, and will instantly be brought to hell.

Угроза Жнецу… сразу в Ад.

What is hell like?

этот Ад?

Considering your sins, you’re immediately going to Hell.

ты должна немедленно отправиться в Ад.

you will definitely go to Hell.

После смерти ты определённо попадёшь в ад.

At times Hofmann felt that he was dead and had arrived in hell.

¬ременами, ‘офманну казалось, что он умер и попал в ад.

Показать ещё примеры для «ад»…

Aw, hell yeah.

Да, чёрт возьми.

It’s just another thing to throw on the pile of what the hell’s going on here.

Еще одно событие в кучу вопросов о том, что, черт возьми, здесь происходит.

What the hell did this, man?

Что черт возьми могло сотворить такое?

Home-— where the hell is it?

Домой — где он черт возьми?

Where the hell were you?

Где ты черт возьми был?

Показать ещё примеры для «чёрт возьми»…

And where the hell are we going to sleep?

Но где нам спать, чёрт побери?

What the hell is this?

В чём дело, чёрт побери?

Hell, the Frisian has made it.

Черт побери, он возвращается.

Good lord, man, what the hell do you think you’re doing?

— Я тоже. Боже мой, парень, ты соображаешь, черт побери, что ты делаешь?

Where in hell is Major Kong?

Черт побери, где майор Конг?

Показать ещё примеры для «чёрт побери»…

To hell with my principles!

К дьяволу мои принципы!

Go to hell!

Пошла к дьяволу!

You can go to hell with your key…

К дьяволу тебя и твой ключ…

He who plays with fire plays with hell!

— Играющий с огнем служит дьяволу!

Tell him to get the hell out of here and come back later.

Пошли его к дьяволу.

Показать ещё примеры для «дьяволу»…

Torture in hell, and… and… frying, right?

Адские пытки, и… и… жариться, да?

While the suffering in Hell is described in all kind of details,

В то время как адские страдания были описаны во всех подробностях,

Open the jaws of hell.

Раскрылись адские врата.

Because Sin would condemn you to Hell for all the eternity.

Потому что грех обречет вас на вечные адские муки.

Hell’s bells!

Адские колокола!

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Man, he dead as hell!

Мужик, он чертовски мёртв!

Hell of a lot, I suppose.

— Думаю, чертовски дорого.

Hell of a lot.

Чертовски дорого.

Healthy is one thing, but it’s hell in here, my love.

Да полезен, но здесь чертовски холодно, любовь моя.

Scare the hell out of ’em, tar and feather ’em, hang ’em, burn ’em.

Напугать их чертовски, опозорить и выпотрошить их, повесить их, сжечь их.

Показать ещё примеры для «чертовски»…

Lucy, what the hell are you up to?

Люси, где ты застряла?

Where the hell is it?

Где она?

Well, Martha, while you were busy, while the two of you were busy… I mean, I don’t know where, but, hell, you must have been somewhere. While you were busy for a while, missy and I were having a little talk.

Марта, пока ты была занята, пока вы двое были заняты не знаю, где, но где-то же вы были, в это время мы с Мисси немного поболтали.

Where the hell are your dog tags?

Где твой жетон?

Where the hell are you, Simon?

Где ты, Саймон?

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Hell, you could have stopped it.

Черт, вы можете остановить его.

Hell, we’ve got a five-to-one missile superiority.

Черт, мы имеем пять к одному превосходство в ракетах

Who the hell has locked this?

Черт, кто его запартачил?

Oh hell! Even 180 is engaged.

Черт, даже 180й занят

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What in the hell were we doing there?

Какого хрена мьI там делали?

Hurry the hell up!

— Чего плететесь ! Какого хрена ?

I don’t know what the hell he wants.

Я понятия не имею какого хрена ему надо.

— What the hell are you doin’?

Какого хрена?

What the hell’s wrong with you, soldier?

Какого хрена ты стоишь, солдат?

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