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What came first Hel or Hell?
Why do they sound the same? Hell in linguistic terms is the latecomer, since the word Hell is derived from Hel in Old English, and that is why the two are so close. In Norse and Old English the word Hel described the world below, were the dead were destined, except for those who fell in combat.
Where did the word Hell come from?
The word ‘Hell’ is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word hellia (derived from the Old English, Old Norse, Old High German, hel, helle, circa. 725 AD) that is used in the King James version of the Bible to capture the Jewish concept of ‘Gehanna’ as the final destination of the wicked.
What is the Viking Hell called?
Niflheim
Niflheim, Old Norse Niflheimr, in Norse mythology, the cold, dark, misty world of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. In some accounts it was the last of nine worlds, a place into which evil men passed after reaching the region of death (Hel).
Where did the word Hell come from in Norse mythology?
The word “hell” itself is from Proto-Germanic haljō (“underworld” or “concealed place”) (related to the word “hall”), from the Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover” or “to conceal”), from which we also get the words “conceal”, “cellar”, “helmet”, and “color”.
Who was hel?
Hel, in Norse mythology, originally the name of the world of the dead; it later came to mean the goddess of death. Hel was one of the children of the trickster god Loki, and her kingdom was said to lie downward and northward.
What is the difference between Valhalla and Hel?
But the afterlife world to which the dead are most commonly portrayed as going is Hel, a world beneath the ground presided over by a goddess who is also named Hel. An oft-repeated line is that those who die in battle are thought to go to Valhalla, whereas those who die of other, more peaceful causes go to Hel.
What is the origin of the word hell?
The name Hell stems from the Old Norse word hellir, which means “overhang” or “cliff cave”. It has a more used homonym in modern Norwegian that means “luck”. The Old Norse word Hel is the same as today’s English Hell, and as a proper noun, Hel was the ruler of Hel.
What does Hel mean in the Bible?
Hel – In Norse mythology, Hel is both the name of the realm of the underworld and the name for the God who rules it. Hel receives a portion of the souls, most likely the souls that did not make it to Valhalla (Norse mythology version of Heaven). Hades – Bible New Testament name in the Bible for Hell.
What do Hel and Hell have in common?
But apart from the fact that Hel and Hell are both realms of the dead located beneath the ground, the two concepts have nothing in common. While the Old Norse sources are far from clear on exactly how one ended up in one of the Norse afterlife realms rather than another ( there were several ),…
What is the meaning of Hel by Gehrts?
“Hel” by Johannes Gehrts (1889) Hel (Old Norse Hel, “Hidden”[1]) is a giantess and/or goddess who rules over the identically-named Hel, the underworld where many of the dead dwell.