Does anybody out there know where the word HELL derives from ?

Question

isnt it time to quit telling people they are going to a place that dosen't exist.

Answer 1

Webster’s unabridged dictionary tells us that hell corresponds to the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades. It also says that hell comes from the English word helan, meaning to conceal.

The original Hebrew word, usually translated (hell) in English Bibles, is Sheol. Sheol simply means a hollow place. So the original Hebrew word perfectly corresponds with the original or early meaning of the English word hell.

Is hell a hot place as some religions teach? NO. When a person dies he goes to sleep in death. The Catholic Douay Bible, at Ecclesiastes 9:5, says: The living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more. So, since the dead know nothing more, it would be impossible for them to know conscious torment.

Here is another fact. Since the Hebrew word Sheol, the Greek work Hades and the English word hell all mean the same thing, it is logical to conclude that Jesus went to hell and was there three days. Read Psalm 16:10. Now, if hell were a place just for the wicked or a place of torment, why would God send his Son to hell.

Centuries later Peter (the apostle) showed, at Acts 2:31, that Psalm 16:10 had its fulfillment in Jesus, that he did indeed go to hell but that God raised him up out of that condition. So hell could not be eternal or hot. Its just a place for the dead.

I hope that I have answered your question to your satisfaction.

Answer 2

What a very good question it has given me some fun researching it.

It would appear to be a proper English word from Old English and has not been taken from Latin, french or any other language

Hell derived from the Saxon helan, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place.
In Scripture there are three words so rendered:
Sheol, occurring in the Old Testament sixty-five times. This word sheol is derived from a root-word meaning "to ask," "demand;" hence insatiableness.
It is rendered "grave" thirty-one times.
The Revisers have retained this rendering in the historical books with the original word in the margin, while in the poetical books they have reversed this rule.
In thirty-one cases in the Authorized Version this word is rendered "hell," the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of sheol are "the congregation of the dead"
It is the abode of the wicked.
Sheol is described as deep, dark and with bars the dead "go down"

The Greek word hades of the New Testament has the same scope of signification as sheol of the Old Testament. It is a prison with gates and bars and locks and it is downward.

The righteous and the wicked are separated. The blessed dead are in that part of hades called paradise . They are also said to be in Abraham's bosom.

I think people are educated enough these days to make up their own minds as to wether hell exsists or not ,personally I am an atheist and dont believe in heaven or hell.just our own personal hells we have from time to time in our lives

Answer 3

Hell comes to us directly from Old English hel. Because the Roman Church prevailed in England from an early date, the Roman—that is, Mediterranean—belief that hell was hot prevailed there too; in Old English hel is a black and fiery place of eternal torment for the damned. But because the Vikings were converted to Christianity centuries after the Anglo-Saxons, the Old Norse hel, from the same source as Old English hel, retained its earlier pagan senses as both a place and a person. As a place, hel is the abode of oathbreakers, other evil persons, and those unlucky enough not to have died in battle. It contrasts sharply with Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes. Unlike the Mediterranean hell, the Old Norse hel is very cold. Hel is also the name of the goddess or giantess who presides in hel, the half blue-black, half white daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha. The Indo-European root behind these Germanic words is *kel-, "to cover, conceal" (so hell is the "concealed place"); it also gives us hall, hole, hollow, and helmet.

Answer 4

Hell comes from the word Hades which means a place of eternal fire. I believe it exist because it talks of it in the Bible. And if I do what is right and acceptable in God's eyes then I don't have to worry about asking questions about somewhere I'm not going.

Answer 5

Sure. Hell as a Christian concept as a place of punishment for those who allied themselve with the god personifying evil instead of the god personifying good originated in Iran with the Zoroastrians, was passed from them to the Babylonians and from them to the Jews in captivity. Other concepts of the underworld in Greece and Egypt were far more vague about the nature of the next existence and whether it had anything at all to do with moral behavior in life.

Answer 6

Yes, we know.

The English word "Hel" was originally the Norse Goddess of the dead, or the frozen place that she lived.

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew & Greek, so they didn't use this particular word. When translating the Bible into English, they seemed to simply pick a word that was already in common usage in the English speaking world to describe the bibical concept of a place for the dammed.

The exact word that you use is irrelevant. What matters is the concept.

Answer 7

In scripture it is called Sheol (Hebrew), meaning the grave. Hades is known as a place of torment, grave or unseen world. I think Gehenna (of fire) is a better word for the place of future punishment rather than the word hell.

Answer 8

Hell is an English word.

The Hebrew words gehenna and sheol are translated hell, as are the Greek words bathos and hades.

There ya go!
.

Answer 9

It is a north European word (either Saxon or Norse), originally Hel. It wasn't hell as imagined now, simply a place you went if you weren't worthy enough to get in to Valhalla, or it's equivalent.

Answer 10

No, but I sure as hell know where to find out